The Self Rescuing Princess
by GrimBarillian
Summary: It's been six years since Veronica has seen Logan Echolls, eight since they last spoke. She has become a bounty hunter and gave up the investigating years ago, now she is pulled back into his life and the PI world by a tragic circumstance. With a life in danger and a mystery to solve Veronica must focus and try to ignore the memories of her past.
1. Chapter 1

She had been awake for less than an hour and already she was sure this was going to be a terrible day. She closed her eyes and wished the pain away. Her head was pounding; her fingers ran lightly over the large bump that had formed where she had taken the hit. Somehow the creep she had been tracking for almost three months had spotted her last night, she couldn't let him get away but before she could pull out her taser he had knocked her head directly into a wall, he had been clumsy and tripped trying to run, she was able to taser and zip tie him, and taser him again for good measure.

"Ya know V you wouldn't have gotten that love tap if you had called me, like you were supposed to."

"It's rude to lecture someone before coffee."

She smelled the sweet velvety scent before she felt the warmth of the steam, her eyes opened and she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she saw the cup in front of her.

"Oh sweet nectar of the gods," she took a slow sip, her eyes widened slightly and she looked up at the man before her. "Is this what I think it is? Did you get me stumptown?"

He smiled back in response.

"Oh Weevil you are the best roommate." She sipped on her dark drink lovingly.

"Yea I know, but I'm also your partner V. You can't keep leaving me behind."

"I didn't know he was going to spot me ok, as far as I knew it was just another surveillance night, really I'm the victim here." She replied innocently.

"Surveillance or not, we go together, every time. That's the deal. I'm not playing around V, I promised your dad." He said softly. He knew how it would affect her, but it was important.

Her small delight was sobered at the mention of her dad. He had been sick a long time before he passed and even that had been two years ago, but it was still fresh. She had only been with the bureau for six months when she left to come home. He had been sick for almost three years already, she had no clue. He didn't tell her until there was nothing left to try.

She spent a year trying to keep him comfortable, and trying not to be mad at him for keeping such a big secret, but she understood; she would have done it to. They had tried to continue Mars Investigations, but that ship had long sailed, after the article about his cover up came out no one trusted him anymore. He lost business quick. He had hired Weevil on and taught him the trade, he was good at it. He kept up just enough to make most of the bills, but when Keith's cancer got worse nothing could save it. Veronica and Weevil had to close the doors just two months after she got home.

She did freelance here and there and gave out of town job offers to Weevil; soon those were the only offers they got, bounties. The progression made sense, and Keith found it both frightening and amusing in his last days. He had made them both promise to keep each other safe, and particularly he made her promise to always take back up. Those last few days had been the hardest in her life, she could see him fading away and there was nothing she could do about it. He had smiled a small laugh and whispered "Veronica the Bounty Hunter", he fell asleep and never woke up.

The memories slipped back into the vault that was her heart and she took another long drink of her coffee before looking up at Weevil.

"Point taken, I won't promise what we both know I can't, but I will try to not go after the big guys alone anymore. Just the small ones." She reached out her hand to him.

He looked at her smile, he knew this was the best he was going to get and laughed. He shook her hand. "Deal."


	2. Chapter 2

Veronica walked into the kitchen of her shared three bedroom apartment; she smiled when she found a thermos on the counter that she knew contained her morning pleasure. Below the thermos was a note as she used her good hand to pour her coffee she sat down and read it.

_**V-**_

_**Take your pain meds, keep your doc appointment, and ignore the office phone. And after you ignore all those requests, just don't do anything stupid. See ya in a few days.**_

_**-Eli**_

_**p.s. seriously DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!**_

She looked down at the cast on her left arm angrily. She didn't even have a cool story to go with it; she couldn't claim to have saved a group of children from a burning building and been injured in her heroics, she couldn't even say she had been chasing down a big bullish man and been injured but still managed to take him in for her prize. No, what Veronica Mars could say was that she couldn't reach the coffee beans on the top shelf and slipped while trying to get on the counter; she landed hard on her arm and broke it.

The phone in the office began to ring, the bounty line. Veronica looked down at her arm again and back at the note. She smiled. "For once I'm going to listen to Weevil, Veronica Mars is taking a day off."

She had taken her pain med and gone back to bed, she remembered that the phone had continued to ring before she fell asleep, now as she looked at her alarm clock she saw that she had slept for three hours, and the phone seemed to still be ringing. After a few minutes she got up and walked to the third bedroom turned office, the walls were lined with maps, pictures, notes and background information from various bounties. She reached the phone just as it started ringing again pulled the cord out of the wall and turned to go back to bed.

_His eyes, his smile. _

"_I thought our story was epic" his voice._

_She felt his arms around her, his warmth comforted her, she was safe._

"_All I wanna do is protect you." _

_His laugh, his kiss._

"_You're not built to let people help you"_

_His sadness, _

"_I'm not built to stand on the sidelines."_

_His arms left her, he was fading away._

"_I'm always here if you need anything, but you never need anything."_

_He was gone, she was alone._

Veronica woke up sweating, her casted arm tangled in her blankets throbbing in pain. She looked down at the pain medicine on her nightstand and thought back on her dreams. She left the pills and took some ibuprofen. There was a loud knock at the door, she glanced at the clock it was three in the afternoon, another knock at the door.

She quickly changed into something more than sleepwear grabbed her cell and headed to the door, the knock somehow seemed to be getting more demanding.

Her breath caught as the door opened and her eyes caught sight of the person on the other side. He was eight years older than the last time they spoke, six since she had seen him. But he was still very much him. His look hasn't changed much; he had a hint of a beard now, though it looked more like he had simply forgotten to shave in a few days. Somehow his eyes still had that fiery passion in them, a look she long thought was lust, and long since realized was love. She remembered herself then.

"Logan, what are you doing here?"

"I called but you don't seem to be answering the phone." His tone came out tired, angry, and sad. Veronica glanced at her cell phone but saw no missed calls. He noticed. "Your business line Veronica, I'm here to hire you."

"Come in." She moved and opened the door to let him in. He stepped past her and she took a moment to take a breath, "_It's been eight years Veronica, he doesn't even look that good anymore." _But he did, somehow he looked even better. "I gotta say I'm a little surprised, we haven't seen each other in a long time Logan, I'm sure any bounty hunter would be able to help you out, why come to me?"

He turned and looked at her for a moment, it was clear he was trying to decide something, something he was struggling with. His eyes stopped on her cast for a moment, then moved on. Veronica felt a small sadness; there was a time when seeing her injured would infuriate him, a time when all he wanted was to protect her. That was a long time ago.

"I don't need a bounty hunter."

"I don't under-"

"I need you Veronica, I need Veronica Mars. I need you to find someone, someone the police can't seem to be able to find." He was keeping his voice steady, trying to keep himself calm as he spoke.

She was going to turn him down, tell him she wasn't a PI anymore, and tell him Mars Investigations had closed their doors for good. But when she looked at him she could see that boy who came to her clinging desperately to his last hope that his mother was alive, that boy who fell apart in her arms when that hope was destroyed. Whatever it was that brought him here today had him on a ledge, teetering and about to fall, somehow she had to keep him from falling.

"Why?" Was all she could ask.

"Because he has my daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

Veronica stood in front of her sink staring down at the water pouring down the drain. Her head was swimming, he had a daughter. It made sense of course, it had been eight years, of course he had found someone else, fallen in love, and had a daughter. It made sense. She was happy for him. Clearly she was feeling sick as a side effect from the pain meds, not from the knowledge of his child. His child, who was missing, no kidnapped. "_Focus Veronica this girl needs help."_ She turned off the water and went back to the living room.

"Sorry, I took some pain killers for the arm earlier, side effects. Ok so tell me what you know, from the beginning." She sat down across from him and listened intently.

Logan took a deep breath, clearly he was in pain, and she understood now why his voice faltered, and why his eyes still held that fiery passion of love and protection. He was desperate to be reunited with his child.

"She's been gone for three days today. It was Hannah's turn to pick her up from school, but she wasn't there. She spent an hour searching every inch of the school with a couple of the teachers. They thought maybe she was hiding or playing a game." He paused "She wouldn't do that. They should have known she wasn't hiding." His voice carried a wave of anger.

"Her teacher saw her leave the class at the bell, Hannah was there when classes got out, she had pulled up just as the bell rang, it took her five minutes to park and get out of the car, she waited outside, when it looked like all the kids had come out and she still wasn't there Hannah went inside to look for her." He held his head in his hands. "She wouldn't hide; they should have been looking outside, looking for who took her!"

Veronica wanted to hold him, to offer him comfort and promise that everything would be fine. But she couldn't, all she could do was keep him focused.

"What's her name?"

"Annabelle Lynn Echolls"

Veronica smiled "I wonder how your mom would feel about getting second billing."

"Somehow I think she would understand that my daughter didn't need to see a "wife of murderer commits suicide" article the first time she googled her name." his voice was angry but calming.

"What happened after they realized she wasn't at the school?" Veronica asked after a few silent minutes.

"Hannah called the police then me, when I got there they had searched the school and surrounding parks, they were calling all her friends and seeing if she had just gone home with someone." He was trying to hold back his emotions. "Yesterday it was more of the same, they had no leads. Her friends all said the same thing, either they hadn't seen her or she had walked out the classroom door when the bell rang and disappeared into the sea of kids."

"What else?"

"That's it!" he shouted "There is nothing more, no one can tell me anything more!" his anger was getting the better of him. "All anyone can say is to have patience that they will let me know as soon as they find out anything! How can I accept that? Where is my daughter Veronica! Why can't they find her?! Why can't I find her!

"I am her father, I am the one who checks her closet for monsters, who reads her extra bedtime stories when she is scared, who makes sure she has the right teddy bear to calm her after a nightmare! I should be able to find her, to protect her!"

He let the tears fall and held his head in his hands. Somehow Veronica knew this was the first time he had allowed himself to cry, this moment was necessary for his daughter, so for this moment it was ok for Veronica to comfort him. She sat beside him and put her good arm on his back, he cried harder.

After half an hour Logan had cried himself to sleep on her lap, Veronica found the familiar situation unnerving. But part of her didn't want to move. So she did. She moved him carefully off her lap and went to her office to start making calls.


	4. Chapter 4

A few hours later Logan woke up, for a moment he didn't remember where he was, until he heard a familiar voice, a voice that for a long time made everything in his life better, a voice that then made everything in his life more painful, the voice he had long ago made an effort to forget.

He sat up and called out to her. He had no intention of or interest in ever seeing Veronica Mars again after the last time they spoke, but she had an uncanny knack for finding the truth, he needed her. He needed her to find his daughter, he didn't know where she was, who had her, if she was ok. Annabelle was his everything; she meant more to him than anything in the world. He would do anything to get her back.

"Hey, look I didn't have much to go on but I called Mac and got her finding all the cameras within a 5 blocks surrounding the school, she's pulling the video from private security feeds, traffic lights, anything she can find. I told her to search through the video between an hour before classes ended through to an hour after the cops arrived, just in case the kidnapper managed to hide somewhere and left in the chaos. It'll take a while to go through all of it but if she finds anything at all she will let us know immediately.

"I also called a few friends at the bureau to see if they have any info on people in the area who might be possible suspects. They couldn't find anyone in particular who stands out, but they will keep looking."

Logan took a deep breath, even though she made sure to phrase it carefully he knew what she meant by 'possible suspects' the thought made him sick and angry. After Annabelle was born Logan had gone to great lengths to learn to control his anger, this was threatening his control.

Veronica watched him carefully; waiting to see how he would react. When he seemed to have calmed himself she continued.

"Logan is there anything else I need to know? Do you have any idea who it could be? Any at all, or have there been any ransom requests?"

"No, we haven't heard anything. Suspects, honestly I haven't made any enemies in a long time and as far as I know all my old enemies have moved on." Logan sighed. "What else do you need to know to find her?"

"I know you don't want to hear this but if that's all the information you can give me we have to wait to see what Mac turns up. Before you tell me that's not enough, I know ok? But it might be helpful if you take me to the school, I can take a look around maybe see something the cops missed." She said quickly. She could see how difficult this was for him; she suspected coming to her had made it worse somehow. "Logan, no matter what it takes I won't stop looking until I find her, I promise."

"I know you won't, I know you'll find her. You have to."


	5. Chapter 5

Veronica stared out the window of Logan's Nissan Xterra, it wasn't the same one she had ridden in so many times before this one was blue and clearly a newer model. She had wanted to take her own car, but Weevil had taken it as insurance that she wouldn't take on a case while he was gone. They had a two hour drive ahead of them; awkward silence didn't seem like the best way to pass the time.

"Clearly you have a particular taste in cars, so why the color change?"

"Actually until about two months ago I was driving a BMW, I made the mistake of parking it near a construction site. They had an accident with some heavy equipment. Anyway Annabelle was actually the one who picked this one out, oddly enough it was even yellow originally, but blue is her favorite color." He replied with a smile.

"Her father's daughter I guess." Veronica smiled. "How old is she?"

"Five." He whispered. He could see her trying to do the math in her head. "The last time you and I saw each other, at graduation, Hannah and I had no clue that she was carrying our own special graduation present. She was almost two months along, we found out a couple weeks later."

"Wow. Bet that was a fun surprise. Welcome to the adult world, ding you reached the bonus level." She said with just a hint of an awkward chuckle.

"It was terrifying." Logan smiled at the memory he was seeing. "All I could think of was how screwed up I was and how bad I would mess up this kid."

"I'd bet you and Hannah have done a great job."

"We've done alright, as much as I hate to admit it Piz has been a big help." He smiled.

"Piz? Wait.. Piz as in Piz?"

"Know any other Piz?"

"I thought you guys hated each other."

"We did, sometimes still do. But since he is Hannah's husband we kind of had to get along." He saw the look of confusion cross her face and laughed.

"Wow Veronica I almost forgot, once you cut someone out of your life they no longer exist." He said with a bitter laugh.

The comment stung as intended, the truth always did. She had known from the beginning that she and Piz were not going to last. That she was using him, trying to make herself into something she wasn't. He knew it to, but he tried to make it work, tried to be what she wanted. But in the end she couldn't look at him without feeling guilty. So she stopped, she was cold to him until he finally had enough and stopped trying, almost three months after the video had come out he broke up with her, it was messy. He was bitter and angry; he wasn't himself anymore, called her poison. Logan was right, after the breakup she cut Piz out and never looked back.

"The short and sweet of it is this, Hannah and I broke up a few months into the pregnancy, we both knew we weren't right for each other. Piz and Hannah had met through some of their mutual classes and had a good friendship, roll classic romcom montage here, they started dating just before Annabelle's first birthday, got married by her third. Now they have one of their own on the way, a son. Wallace was the best man at their wedding."

Veronica stared at him for a minute when he was done; processing the information he had shared.

Wallace had been her best friend for years, he had been the only person she could trust other than her father for a long time. After the break up with Piz their friendship had become strained, he hadn't taken sides; he chose to ignore them both. They hadn't talked in months and even when they did start talking again they were never the same. She hadn't even told him about her dad, Wallace hadn't known about his illness until after he died.

Today they still talked, once or twice a month, he lived in New York with Jackie and their two children, they had gotten married shortly after he graduated. She wasn't surprised that Wallace hadn't said anything about Piz and Hannah, or even about Logan having a daughter, but somehow she was still hurt.

Then there was the man next to her, so much history between them, friends to enemies to lovers to nothing. After all these years she still missed him, she still thought of him, she still remembered how she felt in his arms. He had called their story epic once, spanning years and continents, lives ruined, bloodshed, epic. It certainly was that. She felt that familiar pain deep in her chest, the heat that spread through her body as memories flooded her mind.

_Veronica woke up in his arms; the warmth of his body pressed against hers was comforting. Like every morning since they had started sleeping together she thought back to how it started. Piz had broken up with her, Wallace had turned her away. She didn't know why she had come to him instead of Mac, but she had. _

_Logan had held her as she cried, never saying a word or asking what was wrong, as always he was there for her with unwavering loyalty. After her tears slowed she continued to lay against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, it was a sound she loved, a sound that comforted her and warmed her. She had never felt that way listening to Piz's heartbeat. The last of her tears fell._

_Veronica looked up at Logan, his rich brown eyes caught hers, he brought a hand up and wiped away the last remains of tears from her face and gave her that beautiful smile she knew was just for her. She couldn't help herself, it just seemed right, she kissed him. He returned her kiss softly at first, then he deepened the kiss, she encouraged him and they made love. _

_Now she lay in his arms, remembering their nights together. It had been almost two weeks, they never talked, she wouldn't let them, and every morning she left before he woke up. _

_She moved his arms carefully trying not to wake him; she climbed out of his bed and got dressed. She looked back at him once more before turning to leave, a part of her wanted to climb back in bed and be with him forever, but she couldn't do it. All they ever did was hurt each other and the people around them. As she reached for the doorknob she was startled by his voice._

"_I guess I should be glad you don't leave a few dollars on the night stand." She could hear the hurt and anger in his voice. She turned to face him; he was in the same position he had been in when she took her last look, except his eyes were open. _

"_How long have you been awake?"_

"_I wake up before you every morning, but you seem to prefer me asleep when you make your escape."_

"_Logan-"_

"_Veronica, I love you." He paused and looked at her, she looked away. "I know you love me. You don't want to but you do love me." _

"_We can't do this again Logan; we've tried and failed every time. We hurt each other, ourselves, our friends. I know if you really think about it you'll see I'm right." She still wouldn't look at him._

_He sat up and put on a robe, he looked at her waiting for her to look back, when she didn't he came to her._

"_What I know Veronica is that I hate the way I feel without you, that when you aren't with me I feel empty. We have made mistakes, both of us, but WE aren't a mistake. Can you honestly tell me you don't want to be with me?" _

_He reached out to her; she took a step back from him. She looked up at him._

"_It's not that simple."_

"_Yes it is, just answer the question."_

"_Logan-"_

"_Veronica just answer the question, we both know what you really want, just admit it." He smiled at her, he inched a little closer to her, he was sure this was the day they would start over and make it work. "Come on Ronnie, you love me, you want to kiss me, you want-"_

"_No." she interrupted him. It was a lie. She was too scared, to hurt, and raw. She couldn't risk her heart to him again. _

_He looked at her like he had been struck. There was silence between them for what seemed like an eternity. She turned away from him and opened the door. _

"_Then I'm done."_

_She looked at him again, there were tears in his eyes and a deep mixture of sadness and anger in his voice, his heart was breaking._

"_What? " She knew what he was saying, she knew what was coming, and she just didn't want it to._

"_I'm done Veronica. I can't do it anymore. There is nothing left of me. I can't see you or hear your voice without wanting to kiss you, to hold you, to tell you how much I love you. It's too much to ask to keep going this way. We're done. You wanted me out of your life, you got it. When you walk out that door you're out for good." _

_His voice cracked with emotion, she knew he meant every word. Her heart was heavy and her stomach knotted. Somehow even as much as it hurt she couldn't stop herself._

"_Goodbye Logan." She whispered as her own tears threatened to fall. _

_His eyes widened for a moment, she knew in that moment she had shattered his heart, hurt him worse than his father ever could. She walked away and didn't look back._

She turned and stared back out the window of the Xterra his daughter had picked out. It had been so long since she had thought about her early college years, a long time since she let herself think about Logan for more than a few passing moments. Maybe awkward silence wasn't so bad.

**AN: Thank you for taking the time to read my first attempt at VM fanfiction, I have had this one sitting on my computer for a while just wasn't sure if I wanted to continue it, I have a few more chapters than what i have posted I'm just tweaking them and trying to decide where it will end up. I have two open stories on this site right now so my time is split so please please please R&R so I know if you guys like this story enough for me to continue working on it. Thank you kindly!**


	6. Chapter 6

Veronica didn't get any new information from interviewing the school staff or the first officers on the scene. Logan had left to check in with Hannah and Piz, Veronica had said she needed to search for her own clues, she didn't actually expect to find anything but she knew if she saw Piz she would definitely find guilt.

Now she was walking the hall between the classroom and front door of the school looking if there had been anything missed. As she walked she wondered about Annabelle, what was she like? Did she have Logan's smile? Not the one for pictures, the real one. Her phone rang.

"Hey Mac any news?"

"Sorry Veronica nothing so far, but there is still a lot of video to go through. You find anything?"

"Nothing yet, hey thanks for your help Mac it really means a lot."

"Are you kidding? If I thought I could help by actually flying out there I would have been on the first flight. So instead I will settle for flying out when Abby is home safe."

"Abby?" Veronica asked confused.

"It's what I call her, when she was first learning to talk she couldn't quite say Annabelle, it always came out sounding funny. But she could say Abby so I said it too, it always won me a smile so it stuck." There was a smile in her voice.

Veronica was silent, shocked really. She had no idea that Logan had a daughter, that he and Piz had formed a friendship, they were family really. She hadn't known that Wallace had been the best man at Piz's wedding, and now that Mac had kept in contact with Logan, and his daughter. Then a thought struck her, how close had Mac been to Logan that she was around when Annabelle was learning to talk? That she had her own nickname for her.

"Veronica? Are you still there?"

"Yea, yea I'm still here. Sorry, I guess I'm just surprised. I didn't realize you even knew about her before this morning."

It was Mac's turn to be silent. She let out a sigh. Veronica swallowed the lump in her throat, she imagined Logan and Mac talking, laughing, kissing. She didn't want t know the details.

"Veronica I-"Mac started.

"No Mac, you don't have to explain, it's none of my business. Who you date is none of my business and who Logan dates is definit-"

"Veronica! God! No! Stop! Are you kidding me? I never dated Logan! Never. He's cute but come on, so not my type. You're into the whole brooding heart of gold jackass, me I'm more the nerd with a criminal streak kind of girl." She laughed.

Veronica couldn't stop the small sigh of relief and chuckle that came out.

"I'm sorry Mac, I guess I was just surprised. I mean you haven't been friends with the guy for years but you were around his daughter?"

"Veronica I never stopped being his friend."

"What? But you stopped talking to him in college."

"No, I picked mom in the divorce."

"Ok now you have completely lost me, what are you talking about?"

Mac laughed and then continued.

"Look even though at the end you and Logan weren't actually together, when you completely cut each other out of your lives it was like when parents' divorce, they split up the house and then the kids go back and forth enjoying their time with each parent but never mentioning mom to dad or dad to mom.

"So I never stopped being friends with Logan in college, heck I even went on a couple double dates with him and Hannah. After school got out we got together every couple months, or we talked online."

"So it wasn't just Wallace." Veronica whispered.

"What?" asked Mac.

"Why did you guys lie to me? I mean for all these years, I feel like you and Wallace have had this hidden life."

"Veronica it's not like that. Look you made it clear a long time ago that you didn't want anything to do with either Piz or Logan. But they were our friends, we couldn't just abandon them. I know it didn't bother you that Dick and Parker took Logan's side but can you imagine what it would have felt like if Wallace and I had just abandoned you?"

Veronica and Wallace didn't have the friendship they used to but she couldn't imagine not having him in her life at all. And she wasn't sure she would have survived her father's death if it hadn't been for Mac and Weevil. Logan's words stung her again.

"_Once you cut someone out of your life they no longer exist"_

"I'm sorry Mac. I'm sorry for all of it, for back then, for trying to make you choose, for my reaction to your friendship with him now. I was wrong." She said sadly.

"Veronica Mars, did you just admit to being wrong?" replied Mac playfully.

"I will deny it to my dying breath." Veronica smiled.

"And that is why I record all conversations, a trick I learned from you."

Both Veronica and Mac laughed.

"Seriously Mac. I really am sorry."

"Veronica, I know. But if you really want to make it up to me, and everyone else, just find Annabelle."

"Count on it. Now find me something useful on those videos."

"On it, I'll let you know when I find it."

They both hung up.

Veronica took a moment to settle her mind, now was not the time for her to sort through her regrets. She got back to work looking around for anything that might help. She walked the hall again; the classroom was at most a three minute walk to the front doors of the school. Annabelle would have had to walk directly in front of the office before reaching the doors. Whoever took her would have had to take her between the classroom and the office or the office and the front doors.

Directly across from the classroom was a bathroom, Veronica had already searched it, she couldn't find anything, though it could have been easily been a place to hide until the halls cleared. Most of the classrooms had their own bathroom, and the kids were in a hurry to get home, unlikely to stop in the bathroom on the way.

"But where would they have gone after that.." she asked herself.

Veronica in the entrance of the bathroom then turned to face the hall.

"I have just taken her, the halls are clearing out, I have to know that her parents will come inside to find her soon. I can't go outside; I can't stay here where I'm easy to spot. Annabelle is probably crying, wait.."

Veronica turned back to the bathroom she walked in and looked around, it had been three days, the garbage would have been taken out, even if it hadn't this bathroom would have been searched by the police the garbage would have at least been given a quick scan. It's unlikely the kidnapper would have come back to get rid of any evidence so soon.

She went to each toilet lid and looked in the reservoir, not an easy task with one arm in a cast but she managed. In the third stall she found what she was looking for a syringe. Veronica was sure she was on the right trail now.

"Ok, so no crying. But I would need a place to hide her until I was able to take her out unseen.."

She walked out of the bathroom again, she found herself looking at a supply closet. She looked inside, it was small, roughly the size of a water heater closet. It was also in the main hall, not a good place to hide a missing girl. She turned to walk out when she caught sight of something; there was a large vent in the corner of the closet, and one of its screws was on the ground. On closer inspection the rest of the screws where barely holding the vent. She removed it from the wall and set it aside, behind the vent was a small space, large enough for a small child. Whoever took Annabelle had clearly made this space; it was unfinished and crudely made. This meant they clearly had access to the building when no one would notice the work being done. There was something inside the hole, Veronica reached in with her good hand and pulled out a bawled up light blue sweater. As she opened it up a red whistle fell out.


	7. Chapter 7

Veronica stood outside of a two story olive green house with a literal white picket fence. She was dreading this; she could wait outside for Logan to arrive from the police station, though that wasn't much of a comforting thought either. Veronica Mars meet rock and hard place. She took a deep breath and opened the fence to walk up the small path to the front door.

"Veronica, please come in." Hannah said after opening the door.

Veronica stepped inside it was an inviting house, the colors were soft and warm, there was the smell of fresh baked cookies, pictures of family trips on the walls, all the trimmings of a loving happy home. She wasn't sure if it made her sick, or if she wanted to move in.

She turned to face Hannah, she still had that innocent sweet smile, and her hair was shorter than it used to be, cut just below her chin. The biggest difference Veronica could see was clearly the well rounded belly.

"How much longer do you have?" Veronica asked trying to be friendly.

"Just one more month." Hannah smiled and hugged her belly. Anyone else would have seen her and thought she was smiling from joy and hugging her belly in anticipation of holding her new baby, Veronica saw something else. Veronica saw a fake smile to cover the sadness she felt, she saw her hug her belly protectively trying to keep her child safe. The least Veronica could do was let her keep up the façade a few minutes longer.

"Wow, that's pretty exciting. Do you guys have a name picked out?"

"Finn." Hannah smiled.

"We wanted to name him after Wallace, because he introduced us, but honestly neither of us really liked the name Wallace, I mean Wally Piznarski? That's just cruel. Then we thought about Fennel, but it didn't sound right, plus it's a seed. So we adapted it, and got Finn. Hey Veronica. It's good to see you."

Piz stood leaning against the wall, Veronica wasn't sure when he had come in or how long he had been standing there, she didn't know what to expect. The last time she had seen him he had been a shadow of his former self, he had become bitter, angry, and not at all the fun happy wholesome boy she had first met. But the man she saw before her, this was Piz, this was the man he was supposed to be. She couldn't help but smile.

"Piz. It's been way to long." The meaning wasn't lost on him.

Veronica wanted to wait to share her information until Logan joined them, while they waited Piz ran to the store for Hannah, apparently pregnancy cravings were a real thing. Veronica now stood in their living room looking at pictures of a beautiful little girl. Annabelle had dark blonde hair and light blue eyes, and she did in fact have his real smile. She couldn't help noticing, and she tried very hard not to, as she looked at this little girl, how easily she could be mistaken for her own daughter, Logan certainly had a type.

"She's beautiful isn't she? I guess I'm bias though." Hannah smiled holding a tray of tea.

"She really is." Veronica said as she sat down with her.

"She looks so much like Logan."

"She has his smile." Veronica whispered glancing back at the photo.

Hannah looked at Veronica; there was something on her mind. Something she needed to say.

"I love my little girl Veronica, she is my angel, and I am thankful everyday for her." Her voice had a serious tone.

"I know Hannah."

"Just let me say this." She smiled, and then swallowed hard. "When people meet her they always tell me she has my eyes, but the weird thing is I don't see it. I see Logan's smile and I think she has a lot of my optimism, but when I look at her eyes, I see you." Hannah stared at her for a moment before continuing. "It's true. Even her smile, Logan's smile, they're yours. We both know that. Sometimes I look at her and I can't help but think she was meant to be your daughter, yours and Logan's. But God gave her to me, and I am glad he did. There isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful for her."

Veronica was stunned. Before she could process the statements enough to even respond Logan and Piz walked in the room. Piz immediately went to greet his wife, Logan caught site of Veronica. He mistook her stunned expression.

"Veronica? What's wrong? Did you find something out?" fear spread across his face.

Veronica pushed the Hannah conversation out of her mind and focused on sharing the facts with them. She told them about her walkthrough and what she had figured out, she had talked with the office staff and found out the only person who would have had access to the school when no one else was around was the night janitor. He had worked at the school for three months and quit a week ago. The ID they had on file for him had a smudged image and 'John Smith' as his name. The address on file ended up being the address for a grocery store in town. The only other information she managed to get was the work schedule he had, she passed the info on to Mac hoping she could find a clear image of him.

She showed them the sweater; they instantly recognized it as a birthday gift from Piz's mother. When she pulled out the whistle neither Hannah nor Piz recognized it, but Logan reached for it and held it tenderly.

"It's hers. I gave it to her on her first day of school. I had told her a story," he glanced up at Veronica, then turned away quickly, "It's hers. She wanted it, and I thought it might be helpful if she got into trouble. Get someone's attention. Clearly I was wrong." He set the whistle down and turned away from them.

"It was a good idea." Veronica said softly. She didn't know what else to tell him, how else to ease his mind.

"It wasn't mine." He whispered and stepped out of the room.

"I'll drop you off at your hotel." Said Logan as the door closed behind them.

"I was going to go by the police station and have them test the syringe, find out what he used, maybe it will narrow it down some more."

"You mean you actually share information with the police now?"

"Not really. But this is too important to chance missing something."

Logan stopped in front of the passenger side of his car. He looked down at Veronica and smiled. That smile.

"Thank you."


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: First off I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my fic, I appreciate it and I hope you are enjoying it. Secondly I would really really like to thank all of you who have reviewed I appreciate all the feedback I can get! In regards to the reviews I want to address one thing a few of you mentioned, I know Hannah seemed very easy going about the whole "she should have been your daughter" thing, but I just want to say the conversation wasn't over, just interrupted, there was more to it then what was said, and it will be addressed again. Also I just want to add as a side note here that I am working on multiple stories, I am trying to update them all so I am not neglecting any of them, but I have come up with a lot for this particular story and there is a good chance it will receive several updates over the next few days *crosses fingers for no spontaneous writers block* but for now you get this chapter :)**

The trip to the police station had proved less helpful than Veronica had hoped, they took the evidence from her and proceeded to question her, but they let her go quickly when they realized she had a solid alibi for the time of the abduction, she was having her cast put on. They had no interest in sharing any information with her and saw no reason to, she wasn't a PI anymore, and she had let her license lapse. As far as her history with the FBI, she had only been with them six months and local police didn't like feds anyway.

As she walked out of the building she couldn't help wishing things were how they used to be, wear a cute outfit, walk in, if there was a young handsome but naïve man at the counter sweet talk him long enough to plant a bug, if there was a woman at the counter play the sympathy card, cry and dramatize the worst day imaginable until she was so concerned with helping you she didn't notice when you planted the bug.

But alas, Veronica didn't even have bugs to plant. She had given up almost all of her fun toys when she gave up the business. As a bounty hunter all she really needed from her old life was Johnny, that was what she named her taser. It was a code word that told Weevil she was going for the take down. Everything else has either been sold or gone into storage, at times she had occasion to pull out her camera, but mostly she just took pictures for fun now. She would see about buying a few new pieces in the morning, she just wasn't sure how she would get them in place now that the police were aware of her.

She was tired, it had been a long day, and she would figure it all out in the morning. For now she had a ten minute walk to her hotel. Logan had offered to wait and drive her there, but since she had been hoping to get more out of the police she told him to go home. Again she found herself a little sad by the change in his actions, before he would have stayed regardless of what she said, he would have hidden in the parking lot and waited. She would have gotten annoyed with him but accepted the ride anyway. Now he had simply agreed and left.

She pushed her regrets away, none of it mattered, and it wasn't real anyway. These feelings where just shadows of a long forgotten past, clearly seeing him had dusted off the cobwebs in her memory, that was all, it had to be.

She reached her hotel and found a key waiting for her at the desk, she expected to see Logan's name on the receipt but was shocked instead by the name she read.

"Is this right?" she asked the clerk.

The clerk looked at the paper and pulled up the file on the computer.

"Yes Ms. Mars, the room has an open check out date and was reserved this afternoon as well as the one next door to it."

"The room next door?"

"Well yea V, even at home we have our own rooms." Said the voice behind her.

Veronica turned to find herself facing Weevil. She was shocked to see him but glad.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in El Paso!" she hugged him.

"Well this is a bit more important than a bounty."

"Did Mac call you?" she asked.

"Uhm no, Logan did." He replied looking away.

"Logan? Why would he call you?" she laughed.

"He didn't know your number or the business line. How else was he going to get a hold of you?" he said quickly.

"How did he call you? You have an unlisted number." She looked carefully at him.

Weevil reached down and picked up her bag.

"Let's go get settled in and you can tell me what I've missed."

"Oh my god." she whispered as it all sunk in. "Seriously? You didn't even like him! You two hated each other, half the time I had to keep you from killing each other, but you've kept in contact all these years?" she couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.

"What can I say he grew on me?" Weevil said trying to lighten the mood.

"Yea like a fungus, spreading to all my friends and making them lie to me apparently." They had all kept this secret from her, she was hurt, angry.

"Come on V don't be like that."

"I just don't understand how you could all sneak around behind my back! You lied to me, all of you! How could you keep talking to him after-"

"After you broke his heart and cut him out of your life like he was nothing?"

She stepped back as if she had been struck. Weevil had been the closest thing to family she had since her father had died, they had watched each other's backs for years. He had given her a hard time when she needed it, made her promise to be careful, yelled at her for being stupid, but he had always taken her side, been the one she could depend on, the one she knew would never betray her. It didn't matter that it was true. Only that it had been Weevil who had said it.

"You're right, we should get to work." She said quietly taking her bag back from him and heading to the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

After they each went to their rooms and Veronica had taken a shower it didn't take very long to get Weevil up to speed. He already knew the basics, Logan had told him everything about the abduction on the phone, Veronica just had to tell him everything she had learned.

"So my next step is tracking down some decent equipment and then figuring out how to bug the precinct." She said taking a sip of the coffee Weevil had brought. It had been a peace offering, they didn't talk about it what was said or how they felt. It wasn't their way and she was glad for that.

"Ya know what one of the first things your dad told me about solving a case? That the cops usually know a lot more than they realize." Weevil said getting up from his chair.

"Yea I know, he taught me that too. Why do you think I bugged the Sheriff's office so much? It wasn't for the juicy gossip. Though Deputy Sacks was apparently this big." Veronica spread her arms out wide then brought them in almost touching.

Weevil laughed and walked to the door that divided their rooms he disappeared momentarily and came back with a black case.

"Ooh what's in the box?" asked Veronica in her best Brad Pitt imitation.

He opened up the case and Veronica smiled as she saw the familiar site. He had a laptop, a few ear pieces, some carefully wrapped bugs, and a tuner to adjust the frequencies. Everything they would need to bug the police station. Veronica jumped up and hugged him again.

"Oh you beautiful man! Diamonds shmiamonds. These are a girl's best friend." She said as she picked up a bug and looked it over. "Now we just need to figure out how to get these in there."

Weevil smiled again and held up a finger; he opened the laptop and after a few keystrokes and a display change Veronica could see clearly the visual representation of not one, not two, but seven different recordings happening.

"I didn't know which one was in charge of the case, so I bugged the whole place just to be safe." Smiled Weevil.

"When did you do this?" she asked in astonishment.

"It's the first thing I do when I get in town, these guys made it easy, they order out for dinner and they get individual meals. All I had to do was over tip the delivery guy and suddenly I'm going desk to desk. It's been running for two hours now."

"That's just before I dropped off the evidence. Let's hear what they said after they cut me lose." Veronica said with anticipation.

After a few minutes Weevil had all seven recordings set to the right place, the first two had nothing to do with the case, Weevil cut the transmission. Three commented on Veronica being so eager to bring in the evidence, he thought it was probably fake. The fourth and fifth were completely quiet, Veronica remembered having seen two desks that seemed to be for temporary use by the dispatchers doing paperwork. Those feeds were cut as well. Six had ordered all the evidence taken to the lab immediately and the results were to be rushed to him.

Seven had the most to say. He discussed the facts, went over everything they already knew and added in what Veronica had told them, he tried to come up with theories as to what happened but with little success. Six commented that they would know more after the results came back from the syringe. Three seemed the only one involved who had no more interest in the case, Veronica hated Three, he was sure the girl was dead. Six tried to argue there was no proof and the evidence seemed to suggest a high level of planning, he doubted the kidnapper would go to such lengths only to kill her. Veronica liked Six. Seven asked why the girl had been taken, there had been no ransom request, by now the kidnappers had plenty of time to get her somewhere safe and send their demands, but nothing had happened. Six had no answer, Veronica ignored Three. They found nothing else useful for the time being. The officers had gone home not long after the conversation.

"Well about the only thing I got out of that was that they have nothing." Sighed Weevil.

Veronica tried to sort the facts in her head, the janitor, the closet, the bathroom. Nothing new. The sweater, the whistle, no ransom. Again things she already knew. It had been almost four days, Logan was beyond wealthy, he always had been and now from what she could tell he was rich on his own account. Why no ransom? Why take her? What was the point?

"It's personal." She whispered.

"What?"

"They took her, they took a rich man's daughter but they haven't asked for a ransom. Seven's right, they have had plenty of time to put her on lock down and get someplace safe, they should have sent a ransom request by now. Unless they don't want money, they want revenge. What's better than taking a man's child and keeping him in the dark as to what has happened to her?"

"Why wouldn't they just.. you know.." asked Weevil quietly. She understood, she didn't want to put that thought out there either.

"Because if it is revenge it would be over with her death, yea Logan would suffer the loss but his suffering wouldn't be forever. She's alive. She has to be. It's the only thing that makes sense. They want him to suffer not knowing, not being able to help her."

"Ok, if that's what we're dealing with than how do we figure out who wants revenge?"

"We gotta talk to Logan. He said there isn't anyone who has it out for him anymore, but a man like him is never short on enemies."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I would like to apologize for telling you guys I would be making several updates and then failing to do so, unfortunately my computer situation is a bit iffy. I have a very old laptop that like to overheat and a no longer running pc. So updates at the moment are difficult, on the bright side, I have probably another 5 chapters of material written down on pen and paper, I just need the laptop to be willing to not over heat while I transcribe it. Sadly I wont be posting as often as I'd like but I will do my best. Again I am sorry, please continue to R&R and I will get them up as soon as I can.**

"_I never wanted this for you Veronica."_

_He coughed_

"_Obviously, no one hopes to get sick." She smiled. Trying to hold a brave face._

"_I didn't mean that."_

"_What are you talking about?" she asked adjusting his pillows._

"_This life Veronica. The investigating, putting you in danger, all of it. This wasn't what I wanted for you." His voice was weak. _

"_It's cute that you think you ever had control over how I would end up." She smiled pulling a blanket over him._

"_Veronica, Veronica stop." he looked at her with deep emotion in his eyes, she sat down beside him._

"_Come on dad we don't need to do the heart to heart now, you are going to be fine and you will have all the time in the world to lecture me on my life choices." Her voice was cracking. She could see the toll the cancer was taking on his body. They both knew he didn't have long. _

_He put a weak arm around her._

"_Veronica, I am tired."_

"_Then get some sleep, I will be right in the living room if you need anything." She wiped a tear that escaped her eye and started to get up, he reached out and grabbed her hand._

"_No Veronica, I am tired." He looked at her sadly; he was holding back his own tears, his overwhelming sadness and fear. She fell on him and held him tightly._

_They held onto each other and cried for a long time, Veronica had never felt so helpless, there was nothing she could do to make this better, no one she could leverage into making his cancer go away, no one she could tazor for the cure. He was going to die. Her only family, her best friend, her dad would be gone. _

"_I don't want you to go." She cried on his shoulder._

"_I don't want to go either, sweetheart." He tried to hold his voice, to stay strong. _

_They stayed silent for a long time, she hugged him tightly and he pet and kissed her head, she wept, and he cried silently. _

"_I wanted to see you on your wedding day, to give you away. I wanted to hold my first grandchild. To teach him how throw a baseball, or give her her first can of mace." He smiled. "I'm going to miss it all." He said sadly._

_Veronica looked up at him, he looked down and smiled._

"_But you don't have to Veronica. You don't have to miss any of it. I know you think you do, that's its better alone, and it's easier. But it's not. Your mom and I were happy once, and the time I had with Alicia was better than I can say. But having you was the best thing I ever did in my entire life." His voice broke._

"_Dad-" she began._

"_It's important Veronica, to have people in your life, not to push everyone away." His voice was firm._

"_I don't push everyone away." She said, the hurt showing in her voice._

"_Just the ones who get to close to your heart." He said softly._

_She looked up at him, he had a serious look, a look that said he thought she had made a mistake, it was a look, and lecture he had given her many times over the past several years._

"_It's been six years, when are you going to let this go?" she asked a little angry. She was tired of this conversation, tired of her father pushing, tired of the memories it would always bring her, tired of the feelings it still stirred in her._

"_Look on the bright side kid, soon enough I'll never mention it again." He laughed bitterly._

"_Dad." Her voice was soft and pained._

_He coughed._

"_I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." He pulled her close and hugged her again. "But I am still going to say what I want to say. I didn't always like him, but I liked what he did for you, how he treated you, how he made you light up, and the love he clearly had for you. I don't think any of us ever gave him enough credit."_

"_It never would have worked out, we were poison to each other." She sighed trying to push away the memory of his smile. "We both moved on" remembering the last time she saw him, Hannah at his side._

"_I believe that about as much as I ever believed that Abel murdered Lily."_

_Veronica just looked away. _

"_Even if it's not Logan, you need to live your life honey. You can't lock away your heart and hope no one finds the key. Please Veronica, I've felt how lonely this life can be, I don't want that for you."_

_He looked at her steadily. He wanted a promise, she knew he did, but it wasn't one she could give. _

"_I can try." She said._

_He smiled hopefully and leaned back into his pillows._

"_That's all I can ask." He closed his eyes. _

_She got up and covered him carefully with the blanket. She turned to leave the room, she only half felt like a cold hearted bitch, it wasn't completely a lie. He heard her say she would try to open her heart, he didn't need to know she meant she could try to lock it away. It would only hurt him. _

Veronica woke with a start. The hopeful look on her father's face haunted her. She sat up in bed and cried.


	11. Chapter 11

Veronica arrived at Logan's office early in the afternoon; she had expected a big office filled with secretaries and assistants who were far more attractive than useful. Perhaps a game room for him and his minions to spend the day goofing off while someone else did the work. What she found was a small office, probably three times the size of Mars Investigations. The entrance was an open room, a desk between the door and the two small offices of Logan and his partner a small conference room between them. The walls were brick and ceiling was high with track lighting, the place had a very loft feel too it, it was relaxed like she had imagined but far simpler than she would ever have guessed. The secretary was sitting in her chair turned away from the door, a blonde; Veronica smiled some things never changed. Veronica stepped up to the desk.

"Excuse me. I'm here to see Lo- Mr. Echolls."

The woman turned and smiled, Veronica gasped in surprise, she had been so sure she would find a young twenty something big boobed brainless twit. What she found was a woman likely in her late sixties with a kind smile and worn eyes. She held needlework in her hands, needlework. Veronica tried to find her words again.

"I'm Mary, you must be Veronica. Go ahead and have a seat sweetheart I will let Logan know you're here." Her voice was sweet, there was a small hint of an irish accent but clearly it had been worn away over many years living in California. She picked up the phone and spoke softly into the receiver. Then looked back up at Veronica and smiled. "He's finishing up a meeting; it'll be a few more minutes. Help yourself to some of those cookies while you wait, I made them fresh this morning."

"_She brought homemade cookies and does needlework behind her desk? Where did Logan find this lady_?" Veronica thought to herself with a laugh.

There was a small sitting area with two oversized chairs and a small table, on the table was a plate of cookies, she saw chocolate chip and oatmeal, she started to turn away when her eyes locked on a small stack of peanut butter cookies. She picked up two cookies and sat in the chair, or rather sank into the chair. The seat was so far back her feet actually lifted slightly off the ground. She took a bite of the first cookie and was happily surprised with how good it was. Snicker doodles had been her go to for a long time, but then she had discovered and fallen in love with peanut butter cookies. She heard a soft laugh and looked up, half a cookie hanging out of her mouth. It was Mary who looked back at her smiling.

"I can see the resemblance." She said.

Veronica looked at her in confusion and tried to swallow her last bite of the cookie to ask what she was talking about, but Mary beat her to it.

"You and that sweet little Annabelle, the genes in your family are strong. You must be her aunt." She said sadly.

Veronica swallowed hard, she had never met the girl and it was the second time she had been told they looked alike. Memories pulled at her, whispered and moaned, she heard a familiar tink tink tink of a chisel against the vault of her heart.

"_Epic …spanning years and continents…_"

"Veronica is nothing to Annabelle. They've never met; she didn't even know Annabelle existed until two days ago." Came a voice behind Mary.

"Oh I am so sorry Mr. Echolls, I didn't-"

"It's ok Mary, you didn't do anything wrong. Veronica has blonde hair and blue eyes, so does Annabelle, so does Hannah. So do you. I guess it's my lot in life to be surrounded by beautiful blondes." He smiled his charming smile at her.

"Oh don't you put an old thing like me in the same category as those beautiful young ladies."

"One day I will convince you to run away with me Mary, one day." He said still holding his smile and taking her hand in his.

"Oh you charming devil. Go on get to your business and let me do my work." Said Mary playfully taking her hand back and pushing him away lightly.

He smiled one last smile at Mary. It was playful but also kind, he did care for this woman, she wasn't just his secretary or a playful flirtation for the sake of flirting, she was important, someone he considered a friend, someone he wanted to make smile. He turned to Veronica and his expression changed, the concern turned empty, the smile became pursed lips.

"Follow me please." His voice was formal, it was businesslike.

Veronica scooted out of the chair, at one time he would have taken that opportunity to make a playful remark at her expense. He said nothing, and again it hurt more than she cared to think about. She got up and followed after him.

They entered his office, it was small basically consisting of his desk, two chairs for guests, a couple of bookshelves, a closet, a few paintings and a large bay window, there were stuffed animals and coloring books sitting on the bench.

"She likes to look out at the people on the street while she draws." Said Logan quietly as he shut the door to give them privacy.

"What else does she like to do?" asked Veronica picking up one of the stuffed animals, it was a koala bear, it held a lily in its hand. She turned and looked at Logan. An unasked question passed between them, he gave a small nod.

"It showed up at my doorstep on her first birthday with a card signed D." he smiled.

She looked down at the bear again and held it close. She gave herself a moment to remember her first love, and then let it go. She put the bear back in the window to look out at the people walking by. She turned back to Logan. "What else does she like?"

"You think this is my fault." His voice came out quiet.

"What?" she asked innocently. Out of the corners of her eyes she tried to measure which would be easiest to escape from if necessary, the door or the window.

Logan let out a small laugh.

"You haven't changed much have you? Well go ahead Veronica, ask me all your questions, run all your searches, I don't care just get it over with." His voice was irritated and tired. "I had nothing to do with my daughter's disappearance and the sooner you get that through your head the sooner you can get to work finding her."

Veronica was quiet; she debated not saying anything, just letting it go. He had come to her, he had asked for her help. Why would he do that if he had anything to do with it, he had to know she would figure it out. It was clear he loved his daughter, clear he was hurting, she didn't really believe he was hiding anything that could help find her, did she? Her heart told her the truth, he wasn't hiding anything, and he didn't have anything to do with it. That was what she wanted to tell him.

"I need to know what your hiding Logan." Her voice came out neutral. Point for Veronica.

"I'm not hiding anything Veronica."

"Who would want to hurt you like this? What kinds of enemies have you made recently? What kinds of deals have you been making?" neutral, two points Veronica.

"I don't know who would want to hurt me, I haven't made any enemies in a long long time. I don't make those deals anymore, I don't do those things. My business is one hundred percent legitimate; my investments are all on the up and up. I'm not hiding anything Veronica." His voice shook, he was angry, he was hurt. "I want my daughter back, if I knew anything, thought of anyone who might possibly have her you and the police would already know."

"You mean they would already be in a hospital." Snarked Veronica quietly.

"It's been eight years Veronica, you don't know me anymore! Don't pretend you do." He shouted angrily.

"My mistake, clearly you're as gentle as a kitten now." She said angrily.

He stared at her; his eyes were filled with anger and pain. But the look they held, he was hurt, he was scared. He was a father in search of his daughter.

"Get out." He said, his voice shook.

"I-" she started.

"Go!" he moved past her towards the window. "Mary can give you all the names of my investments, my associates, my partner. You can look for yourself at anything I might be hiding. And when you are finally done wasting your time, find my daughter."

Veronica walked to the door, she looked back over her shoulder and saw Logan pick up the stuffed koala and stare at it, she heard his breathing change, he pulled the bear close and hugged it tightly, he turned further away but she heard the sounds of his soft sobs. She turned away and reached for the doorknob.

She wrote down the name and number of her hotel and gave Mary a list of all the things she needed then she left the building. The sun was shining brightly on her and around her everyone wore tank tops and shorts. It was a hot day but Veronica felt cold. She had watched a man in pain, heard the suffering in his voice, and still proceeded to twist a dagger in his heart. She had accused him of hindering the investigation of his missing daughter, ignored his pain. And she had felt smug while doing it. Now she was filled with regret, doubt, and pain. Karma one hundred, Veronica zero.


	12. Chapter 12

"Don't look at me like that. I only did what I needed to do, he has a history of causing problems and people wanting pay back, it was a natural conclusion." Veronica said quickly. After a moment she sighed quietly and sat down at the small desk of her hotel room, she reached forward and picked up the picture she had been talking to. "But you would have done it differently, better."

It was a picture of her father the day he was reinstated as Sheriff, it didn't last long, thanks to her, but it was an important day for him. His smile was genuine and happy, his shoulders were set back and the uniform fit him perfectly. It had been a great day.

"How did you do it dad, how did you keep your own crap out of the investigations." She remembered listening to the tapes of Keith interviewing Mr. Kane, Keith had every reason to hate the man, to want to lash out at him. But he was always calm, always professional. He didn't make snide remarks until after he got what he needed.

There was a knock at the partition between hers and Weevil's rooms. He walked in holding a couple files in his hand.

"Hey, find anything useful yet? Maybe a clear picture of the janitor that says 'I took your daughter' with a map on the back? No? Damn, cartoons make it looks so easy, just look for the guy with the twirly mustache."

Weevil gave her his raised eyebrow half smile. He motioned to the picture in her hand.

"Talkin to your dad?"

She put the picture back on the desk and walked over to him.

"Whatcha got for me Watson."

"Wait a minute now princess, I'm the one who still has an investigators license, that makes me Sherlock and you Watson."

"Hmm.. true, but Watson had the better people skills, and who could say no to that face." She reached out and held his chin making puckered lips. He laughed and pushed her hand away.

"True, no one can resist the Navarro charm." He gave her a file. "I'm not seeing any red flags V. He has lots of investments in hospitals, research work, children's organizations. It actually looks like he does good things."

Veronica scanned the file; he had put a lot of money into local hospitals, specifically into pediatrics, mental health, and recovery care. He funded research into mental health studies, cancer, and rare diseases. There were a few side investments in sports and entertainment but they held his partners name, it seemed Logan was only responsible for the more philanthropic investments.

"What's this?" Veronica asked pointing to a company name without any real information.

"Oh I had to look that one up," Weevil went and grabbed his laptop, he set it on the desk and pulled up a website, "it's a startup company, publishing. Looks like their specialty is children's books. From what I could put together Logan's company is invested as a silent partner and provided most of the startup costs. Neither partners name is on it but it was in the box his assistant marked as Logan's."

Veronica glanced at the website; she saw several book titles, events listings but nothing that struck her as interesting. She was about to close the page when an author's name caught her eye. Lynn Lester. She was about to click on the name for further information when Weevil called out to her.

"V, I think you should take a look at this." Weevil said quietly.

"What is it?" Veronica asked concerned by the change in Weevil's voice.

"These are some of Logan's financials over the past five years. There's one here that you will want to see." He said handing her the file.


	13. Chapter 13

"Nothing to hide? No secrets that I should know about?!" shouted Veronica throwing the file on Logan's desk. Mary stood behind her looking at Logan with apologetic eyes.

"It's ok Mary, Veronica could have gotten past the secret service if she had a mind to. Go back to your desk." He said sweetly. As the door closed he turned his eyes back to an angry Veronica. "If it's in the file that was given to you, clearly I wasn't hiding it."

"Don't give me that, why didn't you tell me this from the beginning?" Veronica was burning with anger filled with resentment over discovering something she should have known about.

"It wasn't my secret to tell, and it has nothing to do with the reason I brought you here." He replied keeping his same calm expression.

"Why was it a secret at all? Why didn't I know about this?" her voice was thick, frustrated.

"Because I was dead to you and your father didn't want you to know." He said with a hiss.

Veronica felt struck by his comment. She lost her words, struggled to keep the emotions in check. Logan let out a sigh.

"You bring out the worst in me Veronica." He said leaning forward and placing his head in his hands looking down at his desk.

He looked back up at her and she could see how tired he was. How worn down his strength had become. She sat down in one of the chairs across from him. They sat silently for a few minutes.

"Neither of us wanted you to know." Logan said finally. "It was hard enough already, you knowing would only have added more stress."

"Why did you do it? Did you think I would call you my hero and come running back to you?" Veronica snapped.

Logan visibly clenched his teeth. He stood and turned to his bookshelf as if trying to find something.

"I said neither of us wanted you to know. I had no intention of ever telling you that I paid for your dad's treatment because I never wanted to have this conversation. It's clear what you think of me, you will always believe I am that asshole from high school. But let me make this perfectly clear, what I did for your dad had nothing to do with you."

He turned to look at her, they locked eyes, she turned away surprised as she understood he was telling the truth.

"Keith Mars was a good to me, even when he didn't like me. He was one of the most honest men I ever met and he was the man who showed me how to be a father." Logan sat back down at his desk. "After you and I, well there was no reason for he and I to see each other, and we didn't, not until our graduation. He did the neighborly thing and came to congratulate me, gave me some words of encouragement, a few of regret," he glanced up at Veronica then turned away again, "anyway he told me to let him know if I ever needed anything. A few months later, just before Hannah and I broke up, I was lying in bed thinking about how complicated everything had become. Hannah and I were fighting all the time; soon there would be a little girl who would depend on me for everything. I just kept thinking of all the ways I was going to mess up. I thought about my dad, shining example that he was, my mom," he paused for a moment, "anyway it led to me realizing I had no clue what I was going to do for this little girl, how I could ever give her what she needed. Before I knew what was happening I found myself at your dad's door.

He was just as surprised to see me, we talked, and I told him everything that was going on. How afraid I was, how unprepared I felt. When he asked why I came to him, I realized he was the only real father I knew."

Veronica felt the tear roll down her face.

"Plus I figured any child of mine would probably be a handful and he did raise you so clearly he knew how to raise a difficult child." He smiled

Veronica laughed in spite of herself. She wiped away a fresh stream of tears.

"He helped me, he talked me through it, helped me put myself together. Told me a few horror stories about his own experience." He smiled again this time more to himself at the memory. Veronica got a little uncomfortable in her chair trying to think of what he told him. "Anyway he did what he could to prepare me and teach me how to be a good father. He told me it would just come to me, I didn't believe him, but he was right, as soon as I saw Annabelle, there was nothing I wouldn't do to protect her."

Veronica watched him; she saw the look of recollection, of happy moments, passing over him. She knew he was remembering holding Annabelle for the first time. She would find her. She had too.

"I brought Annabelle to visit him every few weeks; I think he enjoyed the visits. He even came to her first birthday party." Logan opened a drawer and pulled out a picture frame, he handed it to Veronica.

It was a picture of her dad smiling happily with a blonde haired, blue eyed one year old in his arms, they both wore party hats and she smiled like sadness was an impossibility. Logan stood on the other side of his daughter wearing a genuine smile, one she hadn't seen for many years.

_"I wanted to hold my first grandchild. To teach him how to throw a baseball, or give her her first can of mace." He smiled. "I'm going to miss it all." He said sadly._

His voice whispered in her memory and her heart ached inside the vault.

"Did he give her a gift?" her voice came out soft, almost inaudible.

Logan let out a small chuckle.

"He gave her a can of mace, it was fake, just silly string dressed up as mace. But he made me promise to make it a real one when she reached middle school." He smiled.

Veronica smiled and held on to the little control she had left over her tears.

"He started cancelling our appointments, at first I thought maybe you had found out and had gotten angry about us spending time together. I didn't want to push, so I just waited, but after not hearing from him for a month I went to see him." His voice was sad again, emotional. Veronica's stomach knotted.

"When I found him, he was in bad shape. I offered to call you or Weevil but he wouldn't let me. He told me about the cancer, said he had been in treatment for a year but he couldn't afford it anymore, his insurance would only cover the most basic treatment and it wasn't what he needed. He asked me not to tell anyone, made me swear not to try to contact you. I tried to argue but he had his mind set. So instead I told him I was paying for his treatments, he tried to argue with me, but I wasn't taking no for an answer. We hoped that the treatments would be enough, that he could get better and you would never need to know. The last time he saw Annabelle in person was when she was two and a half, it was right after you came home, I brought her to see him. He told me it was the last time; he didn't want her to remember him the way he would look later. We kept in touch, I sent him pictures of her, and she made him drawings. The last time I talked to him was a week before, Weevil called me the day after." He was quiet, and then added quickly as if he remembered something else "He didn't know any of this, Weevil I mean. He knew that your dad and I talked sometimes but he didn't know about the treatments or how often we talked, don't blame him."

They were silent. One relived painful memories, the other experienced new and painful memories. How had she missed so much? How did she not know all of this already? Veronica Mars was an investigator; she was the first to know. Now it seemed she was the last to know about all the people in her life. None of it surprised her, what surprised her was that she wasn't angry about it anymore. Of all of them Wallace, Mac, Weevil, her dad, she should have been most upset about her dad keeping this secret. But as she sat here and saw the man before her sharing in the loss of her father, she finally realized she had no right to be angry, it was she who had walked away from him. She had chosen to cut him out of her life, to pretend he never existed. Her friends had only done what she asked; they had kept him out of her life, that didn't mean he had to be out of theirs.

She looked back down at the picture again; she saw the look of happiness on her dad's face. He was happy; Logan had given him something Veronica couldn't. He had given him a grandchild; she may not have been his for real, but from what Logan had said, Annabelle probably did remember him as her grandfather.

"I'm sorry Veronica." Logan said. He had moved without her noticing he sat on the corner of his desk right in front of her. "I should have told you sooner, or called you when he told me he was sick." He looked down.

"You did what he wanted." She said softly.

He nodded.

"About earlier-" he started.

"I should have found a better way to approach you." She interrupted. Setting the picture on his desk and wiping her face. She needed to focus on the case, put aside everything else.

"It wouldn't have mattered, I knew from the moment you asked to meet at my office what you wanted. You thought I was hiding something, that there was some secret vendetta going on that could easily explain who took her. And I was angry from that moment until long after you left this afternoon. But I shouldn't have gotten so angry. I should have just given you all the information without all the drama, guess some things are genetic." He flared his arms out in a dramatic bow. Then his look got serious again and he looked at her. "I just hated that you thought I could really have anything to do with this." His voice was sad, familiar.

"Logan, I didn't really think you were involved, I just, I don't know what I thought."

"Yes you do." He smirked, that familiar know it all smirk. "You thought that I hadn't changed at all, that I still light pools on fire and host bum fights. Am I always going to be that guy in your head Veronica?"

Their eyes met again, he wanted something from her, the same thing he had always wanted from her, the same thing she could never seem to give him. Trust.

"Thank you for everything you did for my dad." Was all she could manage, her throat felt tight, she wanted to leave.

His demeanor changed, he stood up and smoothed out his shirt. He walked over to the door.

"There is no reason to thank me; I didn't do it for you." He said in a neutral tone as he opened the door for her. She got up and walked to him. "If there is nothing else, my daughter is out there somewhere, please find her."

"I will let you know as soon as I find anything." She said without even looking at him.

When Veronica arrived back at the hotel she was exhausted, the exchange with Logan, finding out about his friendship with her father, everything she felt was more than she could handle. All she wanted was to lie down and rest for a few minutes before diving back in. As she opened the door her cell phone rang, it was Mac. She answered but before she could even say hello Mac began speaking.

"Veronica open your laptop and accept my video chat."

She did as she was told and hung up the phone when she saw Mac on screen.

"I found something!" Mac shouted excitedly.


	14. Chapter 14

Weevil pulled a chair over to the small table and sat down beside Veronica.

"Ok Mac we're both here now. Go." Veronica said.

"Hey Weevil, nice to see you, wish it was under better circumstances." She smiled at Weevil, he smiled back. "Alright so here's the deal, when you found the little hidey hole in the wall of the janitors closet, plus found the faux janitor, I expanded the viewing times on the cameras in the area. First I was looking at up to two hours after the abduction, I figured if this guy had been planning this for months and knocked her out he probably waited longer to take her out of the building. So I went five hours after the abduction and looked back at the cameras facing the school from half way through the day, I also have had some friends checking out the footage around the times the janitor would have been arriving and leaving during his time working at the school."

"Did you get any footage of his face?" Veronica asked hopefully.

"No dice on that one, this guy was very aware of where the cameras were I mean check this out."

Three small screens appeared below Mac's face, each played footage from different days and times, on each one the same man walked past the camera but his face was either turned away where he knew there was no camera or covered.

"Damn it." Veronica cursed.

"Yea this guy definitely planned this out. This is just moments before Hannah went into the school."

The three screens disappeared and a new one appeared it was facing the entrance of the school, children and a few teachers poured out the doors. About twelve seconds into the footage Veronica recognized Hannah walking up the steps and going into the building. A few more seconds passed and out the door alongside several other children Veronica spotted the same man from the previous footage walking out of the building, his head facing down and then turned away from the camera, he slipped to the side of the building without cameras.

"So he grabbed her and stuffed her in the closet while the kids were still in the hall? Gutsy bastard. How did the other kids not see him? He would have had to carry her." Weevil asked.

"I think I have the answer to that one too. This next one is four and a half hours after Annabelle was first reported missing. The police and staff stuck around until about three hours then there was only the normal security guard left behind, in this one he is making his normal rounds around the building. I have watched a few of the other nights and it looks like his rounds outside the building take him exactly fifteen minutes to complete."

The footage with Hannah disappeared and a new window popped up, same camera, no people. The guard walked across the screen and around the corner, three seconds later the janitor appeared wearing a ski mask. He pulled out keys and quickly dashed inside. Mac fast forwarded through ten minutes of footage and pressed play again. The janitor poked his head out and looked both directions, then he turned around and pulled a large rolling garbage can out of the building. He pulled it quickly down the handicap ramp and was off the screen with two minutes to spare before the guard walked back onto the screen and back into the building.

"So, he grabbed her in the hall knocked her out in the bathroom, put her in the garbage can, took her to the closet, stuck in her in the hole in the wall, then snuck out with everyone else and came back to get her later during the time he knew the guard would be making his rounds." Veronica said with a sigh and fell back against her chair. "This guy put a lot of thought into this."

"We have to show this to the others." Said Weevil.

"There's still-" started Mac.

"It's good information but it's still not telling us anything about who this could be, I still say it's personal I mean this guy has obviously put a lot of effort into this, months and months of time and energy. But no ransom? It has to be personal." Veronica said.

"Guys." Said Mac.

"Yea but Logan came back clean, we have nothing that shows he has anyone who wants payback for anything and something tells me Piz and Hannah lead a pretty quiet life." Stated Weevil.

"Guys!" shouted Mac.

Veronica and Weevil both turned to face the screen.

"There's still one more clip I need to show you, and it's the most important one."

She tapped a few keys and the previous clip disappeared, the new one appeared but it wasn't of the school, it looked like a side street the camera was facing a four way stop.

"Wait, where is this? It doesn't look familiar and I walked all over that block." Said Veronica.

"That's because it isn't on that block. You had me searching five blocks out from the school an hour before and an hour after, I didn't find anything in that time frame. But, after you made our janitor a suspect and I saw the way he avoided the camera I went back and followed him. I was hoping I could track his patterns and figure out where he lived. Unfortunately he is smart, he is traceable on camera for about ten blocks then he turns down an alley that leads to a camera dead zone for six blocks, he could go anywhere from there. Before you ask, I already looked at the footage from that night and he doesn't appear on any of it, after he comes down that handicap ramp he just disappears." The last was said with bitterness.

"Ok, so what's this then?" asked Veronica.

"This is the last place I ever see him, the four way you see here is the cross section of Ventura and Picadilly. He always goes up Picadilly and takes a right down that alley at the top of the footage. Anyway, I created a program, it's kind of like facial recognition, but without the face, it's based on his general size and walking patterns from all the footage I found him on. I used it to scan all the footage from this camera for the past month up until yesterday. This is what I found on yesterday's footage."

The footage began, the road was empty, after a few seconds the same man walked out of the area Mac had said he always disappeared to. He walked to the stop sign and looked straight at the camera, he again wore a ski mask, he waived at the camera and pulled out a small package. He held the package up to the camera then knelt down and lifted the manhole cover in front of him. He set the cover down and used duct tape to attach the package to the bottom of it then replaced it. He stood up and again waived to the camera before turning back and leaving the way he came.

"Why did he wave at the camera?" asked Weevil.

"We need to get that package." Said Veronica, trying not to voice the concerns she had about how far this man had made his plans, how detailed, and how well they seemed to fit into them.

"How can we be sure it's still there?" asked Weevil.

"This guy is smart Veronica, he knew where all of the cameras were, there were a lot of turns he could have taken earlier on to avoid being seen at all, clearly since the night he took her he used them. He made that trail, he knew we would follow the cameras to this spot, and he came back because he knew we would keep looking. This road is hardly ever used, that package will be there because he left it for us." Mac said with a voice of warning.

"I agree, but for right now, we have to do what he wants us to because it's all we've got." Replied Veronica standing up. "Thanks Mac, you did amazing work."

"Just like he wanted me too." Sighed Mac. "I'm sending you a file of all the footage I just showed you, they are queued up and ready to go for you to show Logan and Hannah."

"Thanks Mac, we'll take it over there as soon as we get the package."

"Be careful Veronica."

"Aren't I always?" asked Veronica innocently.

"No." replied Mac and Weevil in unison.


	15. Chapter 15

"Here we are, Ventura and Picadilly." Veronica said as Weevil reached the four way stop. He pulled over and turned off the car. They both got out and looked around. "There's the camera." She said pointing up at the small barely hidden black lens positioned on a telephone pole.

Weevil walked over to the manhole and looked up at Veronica with a smile.

"You got this right?"

Veronica looked down at her cast.

"You are Hi- larious. Really, you should be a stand-up comedian." She replied in a monotone voice.

"I couldn't do that to you V, then who would get the cereal off the top shelf for you?" he laughed.

"Har har Sideshow why don't you don't something useful and pull up that lid." Veronica reached into the car and pulled out a crowbar handing it to Weevil.

Weevil gave himself one more laugh then leaned over and investigated the manhole cover. He used his hand to clear off some of the dirt and then stopped.

"That's interesting." He mumbled.

"What?" Veronica asked.

Weevil reached down and knocked on the manhole cover, it did not make a metallic sound, instead it sounded like wood. He set the crow bar aside and stuck his fingers into the holes. With a little effort he lifted up the lid.

"Isn't that supposed to be really really heavy." asked Veronica moving forward to get a better look.

"If it was a real manhole cover, yea, but I think even you could lift this princess."

"Don't be jealous of my guns Weevil." Veronica said lifting her arms to a flex pose and kissing each one followed by giving Weevil her best tough face. She let out a chuckled and looked around as Weevil set the lid down and revealed the package. In the distance she caught sight of someone. She casually turned towards Weevil as if she hadn't seen them.

"We're being watched." She said quietly.

"Where?" he asked without changing his actions.

"The alley, where Mac said the janitor always disappears. There's a guy, he's kind of hovering in and out. Like he's waiting."

"You still carry the pocket knife I gave you for your birthday?" asked Weevil trying to look out of the corner of his eye.

"It's not exactly weapon quality." Replied Veronica.

"Relax GI Jane, I meant for the duct tape not for the guy."

"Oh." She whispered feeling a little embarrassed.

"Here's the plan. I'm gonna stand up like I need to get something from the car then I am gonna run and try to catch him. As soon as I start running you get down here and cut the package loose. You get in the car and you lock the doors. Can you drive with that thing?" He said quietly

"The cars an automatic, I can manage."

"Alright, you get in, lock the doors and then you drive down to the entrance, you do not get out of the car ok? I am dead serious, you do not get out of the car, and you wait there for me. Understood?" he asked looking up at her.

"Understood." She said too quickly.

"V, I'm serious, you need to stay in the car, we don't know who this guy is but he's smart. Please just promise me you will not get out of that car." his voice was serious.

Veronica let out a sigh and finally met his eyes.

"I promise I will stay in the car."

He nodded, and moved to stand, she reached her hand into her coat pocket and found the pocket knife attached to her keychain. Weevil walked towards the car and then made a quick movement in the direction of the alley, Veronica spared a quick glance and noticed the man hadn't moved yet, there was a chance Weevil might catch him.

She quickly moved forward and began to cut the duct tape, it didn't take long since it was only on two sides. She reached down and pulled up the package. She heard the sound of the click before she noticed the small blinking light. Her reaction was more natural than intentional. Her body moved, her legs pushed her away and she flew a greater distance than she expected before the sound of the explosion reached her ears.


	16. Chapter 16

"The doctors checked me out, they said there is nothing wrong with me I was far enough from the blast, and it's all good. The cops took my statement at the hospital and I made Weevil take the evidence before they got there." Veronica told Mac on the phone as she walked up to the Piznarsky home.

"Veronica, someone tried to blow you up."

"It's not like it's the first time. I'm fine Mac. I don't want Piz and Hannah to know, I already have to show them some pretty disturbing stuff this will only freak them out more, and I don't want to be responsible for sending Hannah into early labor."

"What about Logan?"

"What about Logan." Veronica said with a hint of irritation.

"You don't think he's going to want to know?" she said seriously.

Veronica remembered a time when Logan would have lost his mind at this information, would have done everything he could to find the personal responsible and make them pay. That was a long time ago.

"Mac, it's been a long time since Logan has played my knight in shining armor." She said almost succeeding in hiding the regret in her voice.

"Veronica.. I meant because of Annabelle. He probably should know that the kidnappers tried to kill you.." replied Mac hesitantly.

_"Of course that's what she meant. You're an idiot Veronica." _She thought to herself.

"You're right, I'll wait and tell him after I've talked to Piz and Hannah, when I can get him alone for a minute."

There was awkward silence for a few moments, Veronica tried to think of something else or some way to just end the call.

"You never liked it when he played the knight anyway, and his armor wasn't so shiny. Definitely had some smudges." Mac said reassuringly.

Veronica laughed. Trying to hide the sick feeling in her stomach.

"I'm ok Mac. Really." Veronica said. "But I'm almost at the door, see if you can find a close up of the guy from this afternoon but not the rest ok?"

"I'm on it. It'll probably take me half an hour to clean it up but you'll have it."

"Thanks Mac, talk to ya later."

"Later Veronica."

They both hung up and Veronica prepared herself for the Piznarsky house.


	17. Chapter 17

"I got caught up checking on something so I had Weevil take the evidence to the police station, he's going to make copies of everything before he hands it over but it shouldn't take long." Veronica said as she entered the dining room of the Piznarsky home.

"Logan called just before you got here. His last meeting was out of town so he won't be here for at least an hour and a half to two hours. He said to go ahead without him and we can fill him in when he gets here." Said Piz walking close behind her.

"I brought my laptop but Mac is trying to get the footage from this afternoon, she said it would take another half hour, which will give Weevil time to get back here anyway. I figured I would set up the laptop and try to get in touch with my contacts at the bureau too see if they have anything new for me while we wait." Veronica said pulling her laptop out of her messenger bag.

"We can hook the laptop up the TV in the living room, should make it easier to see the footage." Suggested Piz.

"Lead the way." Replied Veronica turning to follow him, Hannah reached out and tapped Veronica's elbow.

"Veronica, could we talk for a minute?" asked Hannah.

"Right now?" Veronica asked hesitantly.

"If you wouldn't mind, there's something I'd really like to say to you."

"Ok."

Piz took the laptop from Veronica and went into the living room to set up everything. Hannah sat down at the table and motioned for Veronica to sit with her, she sat.

"I hated you for a long time you know." Hannah said softly.

Veronica found herself caught off guard; she turned to Hannah unsure how to respond.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out so, blunt." Hannah said nervously. "I had some problems after Annabelle was born, I had post partum." She paused. "It was hard, and I was scared. I couldn't do anything for her; I was scared to be near her, scared to be away from her, scared to touch her. It was terrible. So when I found out about Finn here, I got scared again. I am afraid that the same thing will happen with him. I don't want that." Her voice wavered. She sniffed and wiped away a tear before it fell. "Sorry." She laughed.

Veronica felt uncomfortable, not sure how to respond, should she offer sympathy? Comfort? Maybe find the nearest exit?

"I know you're wondering why I'm telling you this. My doctor has been trying to prepare me as much as possible, there is no for sure way to stop it from happening, but she thought that if I could work through some of my stress and fears I could be better prepared if it does happen, or it could help prevent it. So for the past few months I've been in therapy, and it's been hard, but it's helped me out a lot." She smiled. "I'm telling you this because, for a long time I saw you as a sort of ghost in my life. Like this painful memory I couldn't escape. "

Veronica tried not to look offended, or guilty.

"I loved Logan, I loved him in high school, I loved him long after we were separated and I still loved him when we got back together. But the whole time, I knew about you. I knew that he still loved you, that you were the one he wanted to be with. That he always wanted you back. I hoped in time he would get over you, that we could be happy just the two of us. But I knew deep down, it wasn't going to happen. When we found out about Annabelle I thought maybe this would be the thing that brought us together for real, but in the end we just weren't meant to be. Then when I found Piz I fell for him so easily, so fast, he was and is amazing." She smiled happily.

"But then he told me why he and Logan didn't get along, there you were. I considered breaking it off with him before I got to close, I didn't want to compete with your ghost again. But he wouldn't let me. He was determined, and I wouldn't have him any other way." Again she smiled that smile of deep love, now she paused for a few moments and her smile faded. "I already mentioned Annabelle to you. The way she reminds me of you."

Veronica nodded trying not to look at Hannah.

"You can't imagine Veronica, how hard it is to look at your own child and realize that you wish she were someone else. I love her with all my heart, but there was a time." Hannah was quiet for a moment she closed her eyes tightly, silent tears fell. Veronica started to reach a hand out to her and then pulled it back quickly, she couldn't offer her anything. "But it didn't last, she is my little girl, she will always be mine. I think when I talked to you before I was trying to put on a brave face, trying to show you that I wasn't afraid of you anymore."

"Afraid of me?" Veronica asked without thinking.

Hannah looked up at Veronica, this time she couldn't avoid her eyes.

"For a long time I was really scared that one day you would come and just take it all away. That the amazing Veronica Mars would just appear at my doorstep and my daughter, my husband, my life would all be gone in a second. But time went on and you didn't come, the past few months of thinking it through, and honestly talking way too much about you, I finally realized, you were never coming."

"Hannah I would never try to come between you and Piz, we were over a long long time ago and honestly I don't think either of us have ever regret that it ended. As far as Annabelle, I could never take your daughter away from you even if I wanted to." Veronica said trying to reassure Hannah.

"Exactly, if you wanted to." She smiled "That's what I finally understood; I had nothing to fear from you because I had nothing that you would want to take. It's like I have the life that was offered to you but you never wanted. Both Logan and Piz always wanted a family, a life, the whole package, but you didn't. Logan and I may not have gotten it all but we have an amazing daughter, and Piz and I have a life together and very soon a son of our own. And in a weird way, I actually feel like I should thank you."

Veronica knew by the look on Hannah's face that she meant it kindly or as an olive branch. But all Veronica could hear was her father's wish for her to have that life, Logan's memories of Keith playing with Annabelle, and her own forgotten memories of having once wanted such things. It was true that she would never want to take Hannah's life, she would never want Piz, and Annabelle was Hannah's daughter, she would never want to separate them. But there was something Hannah was right about, this life could have easily been hers. There was a time when either Logan or Piz would have happily given it to her. Of course only one of those men could ever have tempted her to it, but as Hannah said, she had never wanted it, and she had done everything in her power to make sure he knew that. Though she was starting to wonder, if maybe somewhere deep within that vault she had worked so hard to build, there wasn't some small hope that it wasn't too late.

"I was so scared to ever see you again, but when I actually found you on my doorstep, I was relieved. There are no words that could ever truly express how much it means to me, that you would help us. You have never met her, you haven't seen or spoken to any of us in years and yet here you are." Hannah smiled that sweet smile so uniquely hers. The one that only the most cavity inducing people are ever able to use, even the tears that ran down her face could not diminish the kindness she exuded. "I know you'll find her Veronica. I know you will."

"I will do everything I can." Those were the only words Veronica could think to say, Hannah reached out and pulled Veronica tightly to her holding her in a friendly hug. Veronica returned her hug but desperately hoped it would be short. After a few long moments Hannah pulled away and excused herself to wash her face. Veronica was left sitting alone.

She had not expected any of this, Hannah's desire to talk, to share intimate details of her life and fears. Hannah was telling her the truth, clearing the air between them. She was offering Veronica her friendship. Explosions she could handle, friend requests? Veronica was at a loss of what to do with it.

**AN: Happy Birthday! ok not really a birthday but 3 chapters in one posting, thats happy right? Ok, they may not all be huge chapters but they are progression darn it. I'm hoping for two more tomorrow so cross your fingers! And remember everytime you review Annabelle's chances of survival go up a little! Just kidding! Seriously I'm kidding they don't effect that particular part of the story. But they do encourage me to write more :)**

**p.s. I know some of you won't like the whole Hannah wanting to clear the air and might think it's not the right time and she wouldn't do it right now, but in my thoughts she is scared about alot in life right now, and telling the person she has feared for so long that she isn't afraid of them anymore is a pretty good way to give her the strength to handle all the rest she has going on.**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Alright folks another chapter as promised. Shanghai I totally understand your concern with multiple emails for short chapters and I will try my best to combine my chapters, I like my cliff hanger though so instead of separate chapters I will just leave spaces where my 'commercial breaks' are :) That being said, this was supposed to be two separate chapters but they are combined now, so I'm not a liar, I still gave you what I promised :) hope you enjoy. Don't forget to review!**

When Weevil arrived Veronica was thankful, this information would be hard for them, but some knowledge was better than none, it would help them to know they were making some progress in the case.

"Mac should have sent the footage by now," Veronica said checking her phone for any messages, "well, it's not really a crucial piece. Weevil and I will take a look at it and if there is a clear face shot we'll show it to you in case you recognize the guy we saw."

Hannah and Piz nodded and sat together on the couch. Their fear was evident, Veronica wanted to comfort them, to tell them everything would be fine, but she couldn't.

"Hey, this is gonna be hard. We're not gonna deny that, but something is better than nothing ok? Everything we find brings us one step closer to finding your little girl." Weevil said in a comforting voice Veronica had only heard a few times. Mostly when Keith was dying.

The couple smiled to him and prepared themselves. Veronica showed them the footage of the janitor carefully avoiding the cameras, she needed them to understand this guy was smart, and wanted them to understand that smart criminals don't risk what their after.

"This may seem like a really bad sign, but it's not because it means he put a lot of thought into this, he wants something. And he won't risk Annabelle getting hurt or he will lose whatever it is he is after. Honestly it's bittersweet, it won't be as easy to find her but it definitely raises the chances that he is actually taking care of her." She said

"But what's he after?" asked Piz.

"That's what we don't know yet," she said "but he wanted us to find that package this afternoon so we might find more when we focus our effort on its contents." turning her eyes away from him. She would not tell them that the kidnapper had also wanted whoever grabbed the package to become confetti.

Next she showed them the video of the when school got out the day of the abduction. Hannah gasped when she saw the janitor from the previous video walk out of the building with the children.

"Where is Annabelle?" Piz asked straining to scan the children's faces.

"He had already taken her at this point." Veronica said.

"When? Earlier in the day? How's that possible? The teacher said she saw her walk out of the classroom." He said quickly.

"Remember when I told you guys what I found at the school, how he likely grabbed her quickly in the hall and then drugged her in the bathroom and-"

"He put her in that hole in the wall?" Piz asked horror stricken.

Veronica hesitated. "Yes."

"He just shoved her in there and left to come get her later? Like she was a piece of luggage?" he asked.

Veronica was quiet, she just nodded. Piz fell back against the couch as if all of this information had suddenly made it all real. As if he until this moment he could imagine she was just at summer camp and would be home soon. Veronica was afraid of showing them the next video. But she had too. After a few minutes of silence she set it up and let them know about the guard's schedule. They watched silently as the scene played out. Hannah let out a stifled cry when she saw the roll away garbage can and understood what it really was.

"After he leaves this shot we don't see him again until yesterday's video. Which makes it really clear that he knew where all of the cameras were and how to avoid them, but never tried to until this night. Likely because he took her to an identifiable car." Veronica told them.

"He had to have walked right by me." Whispered Hannah.

Piz wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

"We're going to get her back." He whispered and kissed her forehead softly. She leaned into him and he nodded to Veronica for the next video.

She showed them the last video of the janitor setting up the package.

"This is weird, why would he do that? I mean it seems like a trap." Piz commented.

Veronica quickly turned and started laying out the items they had found in the small package. There were two envelopes, and a small black box. Veronica had already seen all the items, now she just let Piz and Hannah register what they were.

Piz opened the first envelope, it was filled with three sets of pictures. All of Annabelle, the first set was mostly at the school, there were pictures of her on the playground, in her classroom, in the lunch line. There were a few outside of school, her dance class, at the park. Then there was the next set, these were the ones that made Hannah and Piz gasp.

There was Christmas morning in the living room where they all currently sat. Piz looked up Veronica could see he was trying to figure out where it was taken, the window next to the fireplace. He visibly paled. There were others very similar. Hannah and Annabelle playing a game in the back yard, Piz helping Annabelle with her homework at the dining room table. The three of them sitting down to a family dinner. The pictures spanned almost a full year.

The last set in this envelope were even more frightening. These were all of Annabelle up close. She was posing happily for most of them. Some were at school, some at the park, some at dance class, but in each one it was clear that Annabelle was aware of the picture being taken.

"How did he get these? How did he take her picture?" Hannah asked her voice shaking.

"It looks like Annabelle may have known him." Veronica replied.

"How? He was the night janitor she never would have met him!" she cried.

"It's pretty clear by now he wasn't just a janitor. He was there for her, he went out of his way to befriend her and make her comfortable with him. He probably didn't even have to grab her in the hall, he was her friend, he probably just asked her to come with him and then he drugged her." Weevil commented sadly.

"How could we not know about this? How!" Hannah cried out to Piz.

Piz held her close and stroked her hair trying to calm her down. After a few minutes, still holding his wife Piz looked up at Veronica and motioned to the other envelope.

"Is that more of the same?"

Veronica picked up the second envelope and opened it.

"Not exactly." She said as she showed him the first few pictures. They were all of Logan. Piz reached out and took them.

"So you were right?" Hannah asked, glancing at the first picture and then looked up at Veronica. "Logan told us that you thought it was his fault."

"I didn't think it was his fault!" She replied quickly. "I just needed to know if there might be a reason someone took his daughter. Of all three of her parents he's the most likely to have enemies. I just needed all the information."

Hannah still looked at her for an answer.

"Honestly I don't know, all his information checks out, we couldn't find anyone that might have a problem with him. But these pictures suggest they do. It's possible he doesn't even know who it could be."

Hannah looked back at the pictures, most of the images were close up, only his face, and some showed him in the open with nothing around him but space.

"Well it looks like someone was at least very interested in him."

Veronica looked down at the images again, she noticed again the close ups, the open space, then she saw in one image where he stood in the open that Annabelle was slightly in the picture, she was running towards him and only part of her was in the picture. With a startling realization Veronica turned away from Piz and Hannah motioning like she was checking her phone. Weevil noticed. He quietly moved to her while the shocked couple looked through both stacks of pictures.

"What is it." He said.

"What, I was checking if Mac sent the footage yet." She said too quickly.

He raised his eyebrow at her and gave her a look they both knew meant she was a bad liar.

"Look at the pictures of Logan, what do you see?" she said quietly.

He glanced over his shoulders and scanned them again. He turned back to her.

"Surveillance shots." He replied.

"Those aren't surveillance shots, or at least not the way they are taken." She whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen pictures like this before, except last time it was my face and there was a bulls eye imposed on them" She met his eyes.

Weevil's eyes widened a heartbeat passed between them before Piz interrupted them.

"What's in there." He motioned to the black box.

Weevil moved to go back to his seat, picking up the pictures of Logan on his way, he sat and Veronica could see he was looking more carefully at them. She stepped forward and picked up the box.

She opened it and pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to Piz.

"Returning what belongs to you." He read out loud. "I don't understand."

Veronica handed him a picture of a small bundle of cut blonde hair.

"When we opened the box this is what we actually found, it looks a lot bigger than it is. We had to give it over to the police, though I did take a few strands and sent it to one of my friends at the bureau. There was something off about it. It felt wrong. So I'm having him just make sure it's real." Veronica reached back into the box and pull out one last picture she held it close and looked carefully at Piz. "This was the only other thing we found." She handed it to Piz.

Piz held it up and Hannah took it out of his hands almost immediately. It was a picture of Annabelle, her expression was sad but not scared. She sat on a white chair holding a stuffed animal and a sign that said "See you soon" Hannah burst into tears.

Veronica let her cry a few minutes without a word, Piz comforted her and Weevil sat sadly in his chair.

"Hannah, Hannah. Do you know if that bear she's holding is hers? Did she take it to school with her?" Veronica asked when Hannah started to calm down.

Hannah looked up at her with confusion then back down at the picture.

"I don't know. I don't recognize it but it could be from Logan's house." She said softly.

"What about the dress she has on. I know the day she went missing she was wearing the sweater we found, a pair of jeans and a blue shirt with a flower on it right?" Veronica asked, Hannah nodded. "Did she have extra clothes in her bag or at school?"

"No, she has clothes at both houses she usually doesn't take anything with her. If she needs anything usually Logan comes to get it after school or brings it by if she left it at his place." She looked closer. "I don't think I've ever seen her wear that dress before."

"It's not hers." Piz said. "I remember taking her to the mall last week and we looked at that exact dress, she said she didn't like the ruffled shoulders."

"What does this mean?" asked Hannah seeming to begin to panic again.

"It's ok, it's ok Hannah, and this is good. It means I was right and the kidnapper doesn't want to hurt her. He is taking care of her, look at the picture, I know it's dark but behind her you can see the outline of a small bed, a kid's bed, and there are toys on the floor. The dress she's wearing, the bear she's holding, her hair is brushed, and her face is clean. He gave her a room, he gave her toys, and new clothes. He's taking care of her. I know it's not comforting I know it's not what you want to hear, but this is a good thing."

Hannah looked up at Veronica, there was fear, concern, and a little disbelief, but in the end there was acceptance. She nodded and looked back down at the picture.

There was a knock at the door.

"That should be Logan." Piz said. He squeezed his wife reassuringly once more then stood up to answer.

Veronica was preparing herself to go through all of this again with him when her phone began to buzz she looked down and saw Mac was calling.

"Hey did you send the footage?" Veronica asked as she began the call.

"We have a problem." Mac replied

"What is it?" Veronica asked trying to keep her voice even.

"I cleared up the footage from this afternoon, I was only going to watch the part you wanted but I didn't stop it soon enough, I saw the explosion." Mac's voice was distressed.

Veronica turned so she was facing away from the rest of the room.

"Mac I told you I'm fine." She whispered.

"Veronica." Piz called out.

"One second Piz." She replied without looking back.

"No Veronica you don't understand," said Mac, "Yea I saw the explosion and that sucked. But that's not the problem."

"Veronica." His voice was different. A mix of confusion and fear. She turned to face him.

"After the explosion, while you were on the ground trying to pull yourself towards the car. You weren't alone." Mac's voice seemed to echo in Veronica's ears.

Piz stood holding something in his hands, more pictures, the look on his face was confused and worried. It wasn't Logan at the door.

"I could see Weevil running towards you from the alley, but before he got there, someone else was at the edge of the screen closer to you, at first it look like they were going to come at you but then it looked like they just-"

Piz went pale.

"Took a picture." Whispered Veronica her heart racing in her chest.

"I'll call you back." Veronica said as she hung up the phone. She stared at Piz he stared at a picture. Weevil looked at both of them and then moved to Piz. He took the pictures out of his hands and began to look through them.

"Who was at the door Piz?" Veronica asked carefully.

"What are those?" Piz asked, his voice seemed far away.

"Piz who was at the door?" she asked again.

He looked at her, seemed to focus.

"Neighbor. Said some kid knocked at his door and hand this envelope to him, but it had our address. So he brought it over." He said, then added. "What are those Veronica?" his voice was no longer distant or shaky, now it held an air of anger.

"V, you need to see these."

Veronica moved to join Weevil, she kept her eye on Piz who watched her carefully.

_"Why is he so mad about the explosion, fear I could understand, but he's angry at me. Why?" _she thought to herself.

Weevil handed her the pictures, she took them and began to flip through them, she didn't get very far before she found her heart racing and blood running cold. The first few images were indeed of the explosion, she was on the ground using her casted hand to protect her head from any debris, and she used her good hand to pull herself towards the car. Then there was a couple shots of both her and Weevil making the plan for him to go after the guy in the alley. Of her leaving Logan's office, the hotel, the Piznarsky house, the police station, the school.

_"Ok the guy's been watching me since I got into town, no big deal. I've been watched before." _She thought to herself trying to coax the lump in her throat down. But there were a lot more pictures.

As she left the hospital after getting her cast put on, entering her apartment the night her bounty had slammed her head against a wall.

_"So they knew Logan would call me in, obviously they know him, they've been watching him for months they had plenty of time to track me down and do the same. They sent these to unnerve me." _She told herself.

Her visiting her father's grave, her father's bedside in the hospital, being sworn into service for the bureau, the door of her room in Virignia during her training, graduating from Hearst, various places and times on campus, several of her and Logan, graduating from Neptune, her mom, her and Duncan, her and Logan again, the last picture was of her sitting in her old trusty LeBaron with Backup and her own camera in hand.

Veronica was at a loss. She felt her legs get weak and realized she had lost feeling in them, Weevil caught her and set her in the chair he had been sitting in. He took the pictures and through them on the coffee table.

Piz took one look at her and lost all the anger he had felt. He hugged himself and paced back and forth. Weevil sat on his knees looking up at Veronica making sure she was ok.

"Hey, talk to me, you good?" he whispered.

Her head spun, all the images played on repeat through her mind. Bits and pieces of her life for almost ten years. For almost ten years someone had been watching her. Someone who had now taken Logan's daughter, why? She didn't understand what was happening anymore, didn't know why someone would watch her for so long, and then go after Logan's daughter.

Weevil reached out and grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

She looked back at him, the images floating in her mind, mixing with the images of Annabelle that covered this home, the target shots of Logan, Annabelle holding the sign "See you soon", her chest was tight, her stomach was sick, and she the familiar warmth in her face that told her she could not keep these emotions trapped in the vault. There was a question that need to be asked, an answer she needed to know. She looked at Weevil.

"Is this my-" she began in a whisper.

"This is your fault." Hannah interrupted quietly staring at the pictures that had spread over the table when they fell. Weevil moved to gather them up quickly.

"Hannah." Piz said moving towards her.

"You did this. You are the reason my baby was taken!" Hannah yelled angrily as she stood up and moved towards Veronica.

"Hannah, baby, calm down." Piz whispered to her trying to block her path. Veronica stood up from the chair.

"Don't tell me to calm down, this is her fault!" she screamed pushing Piz aside and moving closer to Veronica. "Whoever did this, did it to get to you. They took MY daughter to get to you."

"Hannah-" Veronica started.

"Shut up! Don't you talk to me, don't you dare try to defend yourself to me. This is your fault. They took her because of you!" Hannah screamed, Veronica visibly flinched and her eyes began to glisten but she stayed quiet and still. "They knew Logan would go running back to his precious Veronica the moment she was gone. It was never about her, or us, or Logan, it was all about you. Everything she has been through the past week has been because of you!" Angry tears streamed down Hannah's face. "If anything happens to my daughter it's on your hands."

"I didn't know, Hannah I am so-" Veronica choked out fighting to hold herself together, her voice quivered with emotion.

"Get out." Hannah interrupted angrily.

Veronica's armor cracked, her body shook and she couldn't hold the tears back anymore. She took in a shaky breath and moved towards the exit. The stream of tears had already started by the time she opened the door. She gasped as she found her way blocked; she looked up and found herself looking at the last person she wanted to see, the one who could make her feel worse than Hannah ever could in only one glance. He saw the tears in her eyes, the pain written across her face, panic filled his eyes.

"Veronica what's wrong? What happened? Is it Annabelle?" Logan asked quickly grabbing her shoulders.

She tried to push past him, her tears grew stronger. She managed to get out the door but he grabbed her good wrist.

"Veronica?" his voice was desperate, he was scared.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know, I swear I didn't." was all she could say through her tears. She got away from him and ran. She ran down the block and she kept running until she couldn't hear him screaming her name anymore.

**AN: P.S. just so it's clear, I know the last picture sounds like the opening scene of the series and I did that because I thought it was nifty, but let me be perfectly clear it is ****not**** meant to actually be that scene. Just another time she was in the car with Backup and her camera, which ya know happened a lot. Just not on screen.**


	19. Chapter 19

Veronica stared at the spotted ceiling of her cheap hotel room. There was clear water damage, patch work in three different places, a filled bullet hole, and she was almost positive the small stain just above the bed was blood. She had made all these observations after she had fully analyzed the rest of the room. She was convinced this room had been witness to more than one deal gone wrong. Now it was witness to her carefully built walls of stone crumbling apart around her damaged heart.

Her mind kept showing her the slideshow of images over and over again, of her throughout the years like a tribute video. But then she saw Annabelle again, smiling and laughing, of the garbage can being wheeled out of the school.

She had cried until her eyes burned and dried, she had run until her legs were too weak to hold her up anymore, she saw every moment with Hannah, Piz and Logan over the last few days, their heartbreak. Was it all her fault?

There was a knock. Veronica didn't move. There was another knock. Veronica turned on her side and faced the wall, somehow more tears formed and she shed them silently. The door opened light footsteps moved to the table where her laptop sat. The sound of a heavy envelope hitting the table. She stifled another cry. The sound of the partition door opening and closing and then she was alone again. She still didn't move.

A few minutes passed. The room was dark but her eyes seemed to know exactly where the envelope sat on the desk.

She stared quietly in the dark. She reached out and turned on the light, she wiped away the tears and went to the desk. She opened the envelope and separated the pictures, her personal tribute gallery from the ones of Annabelle and Logan.

She sat down and started looking through the pictures of Annabelle looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

"Out of the ordinary." she whispered to herself "Hmm maybe like some creep taking pictures of a kid that isn't his? That seems pretty out of the ordinary Veronica."

She tried to focus on the images in front of her, tried to find the detail that would give her a clue, but her eye kept wandering to the pictures she hadn't expected. She set the images of Annabelle down. She stared silently at the other pile for a long time, almost afraid to touch it.

She grabbed it quickly and started flipping through it. The first image that caught her attention for more than a moment was one of the last days she had seen her father, they sat in his hospital room playing Clue. Keith liked the irony, Veronica liked that she always beat him. Veronica pushed back the urge to cry again. She turned to the next picture. It was her and Logan, a private moment their foreheads pressed together and each of them smiling. A tear she couldn't stop rolled down her cheek. She threw the pictures back down on the desk and went to the bathroom to clean up.

Veronica had taken a hot shower trying to burn off the guilt and the sadness, it didn't work. She walked back over to the desk, the pictures of her spread out on the table displaying her most formative years. At a glance she saw herself talking to Wallace at his locker, a stolen moment with Logan, walking on the beach with Back Up, a kiss with Duncan, fixing the slushy machine at the school carnival, Aaron's trial, sitting in a class at Hearst there was more and more. Her life on display for all to see. But between a picture of her working at the college library and one of her and Duncan at the café, a smiling Annabelle poked through. Veronica reached out and pulled the picture. Annabelle was smiling happily, her hair pulled up in a small bun, she wore a purple dress and tights, and she looked like a flower. Veronica guessed it was a dance recital, she was in Hannah's arms. Logan stood behind Hannah holding a flower that was the same color as Annabelle's dress. He looked happier than she had ever seen him before.

She put the picture down and sat down on the bed. None of them were smiling now. Hannah, Logan, Annabelle, they were all suffering, and it was likely her fault. She pulled back the covers and crawled back into bed.

Morning did not come quickly for Veronica, she hadn't slept much during the night. Every time she managed to drift off a little, the faces of all the people she had angered flashed through her mind. From those as simple as Madison Sinclair to those more psychotic like the Fitzpatricks or Aaron Echolls.

A knock at her door cleared away the haunting memory of Aaron Echolls looking at her in her rearview mirror. She sat up, the knocking continued. She considered trying to sleep again, Weevil would get the hint after a few more attempts. But then she realized the knocking was not coming from the partition. She got up and moved towards the door.

"Veronica?"

She froze. Her mouth went dry and her heart quickened. It was Logan. How could she face him? She took a step back.

"Veronica, open the door." He called again. "Come on, we both know I won't hesitate to knock it down, and I can afford the damages."

She took a deep breath and let it back out before opening the door for him. She kept her eyes on the floor as he entered and closed the door behind him. He wore jeans and a vintage tshirt, a brown jacket covering it. His hair was neat, as always, he looked tired. He hadn't slept either it seemed.

"So." He said looking at her. Their eyes met momentarily before she turned away quickly. "I came for an update on my daughter's case."

She turned to look at him, shock plain on her face.

"What?" she asked, because it was all that would come out.

"My daughter, your case, and the reason you are here. You told me last night you had new information, I want to know what it was." His voice was calm.

"Didn't they tell you? Show you the pictures?" she asked.

Logan looked at her for a moment. He was angry, but he wasn't. It had been too long she didn't know him anymore, couldn't recognize his mind through just a glance. Knowing that left her with an emptiness.

"Hannah mentioned a few things, Piz tried. I only saw a few of the pictures before Weevil had to leave. When his surrogate sister went running off into the night he got a little worried, you understand don't you?"

"Logan there were pictures of me." She said quietly.

"Hannah mentioned that." His voice was tight.

"It might be best if I give over the investigation to the police, whoever this-"

"The police?" he asked looking at her like she had suggested he drop the case entirely. "You can't seriously think I'd let them handle this."

Silence.

"Veronica the police think Annabelle is dead, they aren't looking anymore, they're just waiting to find a body" he was quiet again. "Do you think she's dead?"

"I know she isn't." she said without thinking.

"Then find her." His voice was breaking.

"Logan, the pictures..they.. This could be my fault."she said sadly, preparing herself for his outrage. He moved to her and made him look at him, his eyes shown with the sadness of his broken heart. His anger was a raging fire inside of him but he held it back.

"I don't care." He said. "I don't care if it's some old revenge plot, on you or me, or if it's some ransom scam, or anything else, I don't care why someone took my little girl. I don't care if this is hard for you, I don't care if you feel sorry for yourself. All I care about is getting her back. Anything and everything else doesn't matter."

He moved away from her. He walked to the table and stood over the pictures, he took a deep breath and reached down for one of the images. It was the one of Annabelle holding the sign.

"All I care about." He whispered to himself.

Veronica looked at him as if it was the first time she had seen him. Logan Echolls was a different man. The man she had known would have yelled, screamed, and thrown things angrily. He would have taken out all his frustrations, all his rage on anyone that could have anything to do with this. But he stood before her knowing she was likely the cause of his daughter's abduction, and he held it back, held back the fire that raged in him because he thought she could also be the way to find her. He had changed, he had opened himself up and become a better, stronger man. She was still the same, the old Veronica Mars.

A memory flashed into her mind, seemingly out of nowhere, she remembered seeing the pictures of herself as a target.

Not quite the same.

The old Veronica never would have given up.

She turned and moved to join him at the table. She reached out and arranged the pictures into distinct stacks.

"What are you doing?" he asked watching her carefully.

"When we were looking at the pictures last night I noticed something, I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but, I need to check."

She sorted the pictures into piles of the subject, one for Annabelle, one for Logan, and one rather large one for herself.

"Ok they each focus on one person. We could all see that Veronica."

"No, it's not just the person in the picture. It the picture itself." She spread out the images of Annabelle in a line. "See these are all wide and open, they're inviting and playful. Like it was a fun day at the park with your family, you could put them in a frame and hang them up. You could have taken these, or Piz, or Hannah."

"But we didn't." he replied with slight confusion.

She gathered them back into a pile and spread out the pictures of him, just as she had seen before they were close and aggressive focused on his face or vulnerabilities.

"They're target shots. These pictures are focused, aggressive, this is an angry set of pictures. The ones of Annabelle made you feel a warmth, if you didn't know they would have brought a smile to your face, these, these almost make you look behind you to see if anyone is watching."

Logan picked up one of the pictures, one where Annabelle had been clipped out.

"At least they aren't of her." He whispered. He set them back down and pointed to her pile. "What about yours?"

She reached out and spread them out across the table, there were far more of her than of the other two. She felt her stomach tighten. He reached out and picked up one of the older pictures.

"This was at my house, before anyone even knew about us." He said quietly.

Veronica moved closer and looked down at the image in his hand. He was right. It was the two of them laughing in his living room after having been caught making out by his father.

"They were very thorough." She replied softly. She cleared her throat. "These pictures are all surveillance shots, no emotion in them, and no connection to the subject. They're text book. They're my personal life, my friends, my family, and my achievements. It's all information gathering."

_"And someone has a lot of information on me."_ She thought to herself.

"Ok, so what does all this mean?"

"Photography is individual, we don't all do it the same, even if we are taught the same technique we still see things through different eyes. It will always be unique. In a way a picture can be like a finger print." she grabbed a picture from each stack and set them next to each other on top of her own images. "And we have three sets of prints."

Logan moved closer, they stood beside each other now, his arm grazed hers. It sent a warmth through her body.

_"Pull it together Mars."_ She chastised.

He put his hands on the table looking carefully at the three images. After a moment he seemed to see what she saw. Then he let out a sigh and leaned forward placing his elbows on the desk. He held his head in his hands, running his fingers into his hair and looking down.

"So we don't just have one person keeping my daughter, but three."

"I think so," She replied adding quickly "but at least one of those people seems to actually care about her." Pointing to the image of Annabelle.

"Yea, and at least one hates me." He responded hitting the picture of him. The picture fell to the side revealing the one below it, one of Veronica trying to crawl away from the explosion. The pain of dragging herself was written on her face. He stood up stiff and white.

"What is that?" he asked his voice holding a hint of fear and anger.

Veronica glanced at the image, her eyes widened and panic began.

"Nothing, it's an old picture." She said trying to grab it, he grabbed it first.

"You have a cast."

"I'm a five foot nothing bounty hunter, this isn't my first cast." She replied with too much forced humor. She reached for the image again.

"That's Weevil's rental car." He was angry now.

She stopped trying for the picture and looked at him. His eyes told her he wasn't going to drop it.

"Fine." she said she looking away and letting out a sigh she told him what happened the day before. He stayed silent through the entire tale, still holding on to the picture.

"I didn't tell Piz or Hannah, I didn't want to add more to their plate. I was going to tell you, but then…. Look I know it's hard to believe but I really don't think they want to hurt Annabelle. I think they were just trying to scare me off. Seriously Logan it was more noise than anything. Other than some new bruises and a few sores I'm perfectly fine."

He was silent. She could only see the anger he was holding back.

"Please say something Logan."

But he didn't say anything. He dropped the picture in his hand and closed the distance between them, bending to capture her mouth with his own.

Veronica felt the world spin as memories of all their kisses, all their embraces, all their love and passion, all they had ever been filled her mind. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the longing she had ignored for so many years. He pulled her tight against him, turning her he lifted her onto the desk spilling the pictures to the ground. His jacket quickly joined them.

His hands trailed down her back slipping under the edge of her shirt, his hands on her bare flesh sent a warm shiver through her core. Their kisses were strong and passionate. Her lungs burned with the need for air but her need for him was stronger.

He pulled away from her so quickly she feared she had imagined it all. He looked stricken, he brought his hand to his mouth and looked away from her. They were both said nothing, the room silent except the sound of their desperate breathing. She watched him carefully, her mind reeling, and then she caught his eyes, saw the shine of unshed tears.

"Logan," she began.

"No." he whispered.

"Logan." She said as she moved off the desk, he took a step back, away from her.

"No, no, I can't do this again." He said, his voice cracking with the tears he desperately fought to keep back. He moved towards the door.

"Logan, wait.. please, don't go." She called out urgently, remembering a time she should have been the one to stay.

He stopped and looked at her, the tears fell.

"I can't do this with you anymore Veronica." His voice had broken, sad and angry. He looked like a man faced with death when he still has so much to live for. He moved and picked up his jacket, beside it he paused at one of the fallen images. He picked it up and looked carefully at it.

"I have too much to lose now." He said as he handed it to her.

It was a picture from Annabelle's stack, one of them together at the park. He held her in the air, they laughed happily. Veronica heard the door open, she looked up. He didn't look back at her.

"The only thing I want from you is my daughter back."

With the click of the door came the sound of Veronica Mars' heart of ice shattering.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: First things first, thank you all for sticking with me in my long absence and thank you for still reviewing and posting your desire for this story to continue. I am so sorry for the long wait. To be perfectly honest I have been in a writing funk for the past several months and it has been really hard for me to write anything. This piece is especially difficult for me because I had always said I would never do a V Mars story because I wanted it to be perfect, and I have had such a struggle trying to make sure the characters we all know and love are portrayed accurately but with a little growth or stunt. Again thank you so much for your patience and your reviews, without them I'm not sure I could have continued. I wont make any promises that I will be posting frequently, but I will try my best not to make it months between posts again.**

**Grim**

**p.s. I am heading to work so I didn't get a chance to review and make corrections to this chapter as I wanted to get it to you ASAP. Please forgive obvious grammatical or spelling errors.**

She didn't know how long it had been since he left, she didn't know how long she had stood there silently, all she knew was that she couldn't move. Somehow staying still held it back, it kept her tears from falling, her heart from screaming, as long as she stood still, reality couldn't quite reach her.

"_He'll come back_." She thought to herself. "_He always comes back_."

Thoughts like this could exist in a frozen moment where reality couldn't reach you.

A sound came from her lap top. A distant noise that called her back to a place where time could no longer stand still.

She reached a hand up to her mouth, she remembered his kiss, his sweet yet passionate embrace. The warmth that had filled her body. Her lips were cold now, as if it never happened. Her heart ached, and slowly, as it always does, reality began to wash over her like a soft wave rolling in with the tide, dragging forgotten memories with it.

_"I love you Veronica, I love you. Do you love me?"_

_"yea."_

"He's not coming back." She whispered to herself letting a tear fall with the words.

She looked down and saw the picture he had given her, it lay on the floor where she had dropped it after he left. She bent down and picked it up. They looked so happy. She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout, and she wanted to curl into a ball and cry.

Her laptop echoed at her again.

She had already let to much get in the way, she had to find Annabelle. She stood up and wiped away the evidence of tears.

Veronica walked to her laptop, first turning to the long mirror that sat in front of it and making sure she showed no signs of tears, then accepted the video call.

"Hey Mac." She said sitting down and smiling at her friend.

"Hey Veronica, how are you?" Mac's voice held true concern.

"I'm fine Mac."

"Come on Veronica, Weevil told me what happened last night."

"Mac, I'm fine. It was a rough night, but I'm fine."

"Ok." Mac replied hesitantly, but she knew it was all she would get from Veronica. "Did you talk to Logan at least?"

Veronica felt herself react but tried to catch it, it had only been a moment, a brief widening of the eyes and slight blush. Surely Mac hadn't noticed. Veronica glanced at the screen, Mac had noticed.

"Yes, I talked to him this morning and showed him the pictures. I told him about my new theory. Which actually I could use your help on-"

"Veronica." Mac interrupted.

Veronica looked away.

"What happened?" was all Mac asked. Her voice was neutral.

"Nothing."

"Veronica."

"We kissed. It wasn't planned, or even intentional, it just happened. But that's it and nothing else will happen." She said firmly, though she couldn't keep the sadness from slipping into her voice.

"Are you sure?" Mac asked with concern.

Veronica was quiet. She remembered the look on his face that broken look. She turned away trying to hide the tears that threatened to rise up again.

"Yea, I'm sure."

"You can talk to me Veronica, you know that."

Veronica glanced up at the mirror and saw Mac looking back at her. The computer screen was facing the mirror, she could easily see the pain that Veronica had tried to hide by turning away. Veronica closed her eyes and turned back to the screen.

"You know what I realized today Mac?" She began. "I love Logan. I have loved Logan so long I can hardly remember ever not loving him. And for the three years that we spent whirl winding through each other's lives I never once told him. I never said the words, and I didn't let myself show him. All I did was hurt him, over and over again. We both made mistakes, but I was the one who wouldn't let us work. He deserves better." This time she didn't hide the tears that came with her words, she let them fall, for this moment she let herself be exposed.

"Veronica," Mac began.

"I need to focus on getting Annabelle back. That's the only thing I can do for him." Veronica interrupted wiping away her tears.

Mac looked at her with compassion in her eyes, she wanted to help but there was nothing she could do.

"Alright Veronica."

Veronica nodded and began to tell Mac her theory of multiple kidnappers and the differences in the photography. Once Mac understood the basics of her theory they began to strategize a way for Mac to try to run a search of similar styles of photography. They knew it was a long shot but it was better than nothing.

"Alright so what I need is digital copies of all the pictures and I can try to compile a general style to look for- Oh actually Veronica can you give me a few minutes I just got a hit on one of my video feeds, it's probably nothing but I want to check in case it's helpful now."

"Sure, I should call Weevil and check in anyway."

A few minutes later Mac returned to her monitor.

"I was right, it was nothing." She said before actually looking at the screen and noticing only an empty chair and the reflection of the front door. Veronica was not there. Assuming Veronica was still talking to Weevil she went about checking her emails and inboxes.

Five minutes passes, then ten. Mac grew concerned.

"Veronica?" she called out.

No response.

She pulled out her cell phone and called Veronica, it began to ring, and then she heard the ringtone. She looked closely at the screen and could see that beside the front door was a soft light with each sound of the ringtone. Veronica's cell phone. But where was Veronica?

Mac went into her security system and found the current feed, she hadn't really been joking when she told Veronica she recorded all of her calls. She went through the recording until the point when she left. She watched Veronica stand up and pull out her phone. For a minute she was outside of the field of vision. Then she stepped back in and seemed to hang up the call then placed the phone in her back pocket. She turned as if returning to the computer but a soft noise turned her attention to the door. Veronica opened the door, her position blocked the view of the person on the other side. Suddenly Veronica seemed to stiffen. She pulled her phone from her pocket and made it clear to the person that she was setting it down on the table. Then lifted both her hands as if to show surrender. Veronica stepped forward into the hall, as she turned to close the door, just for a brief second Mac could see the face of the other person. The door closed.

Mac quickly rewound the video to the spot where the face was visible, she could tell it was a woman but beyond that could not recognize her. She captured the image and immediately began to run it through all the facial recognition she had access too. She picked up her phone and dialed Weevil.

"Hey Mac, V already filled me in on the plan-" he began

"Veronica's been kidnapped!" she shouted.

_"If you try anything clever, anything brave, anything remotely like an escape or call for help, it will be Annabelle who pays the price."_

Those had been the words that the woman at the door had spoken to Veronica. Those had been the words that made her leave behind her phone and surrender herself without question. She had walked beside her, gotten into her car, been transferred to a man. She allowed this man to tie her up and blind fold her and then lead her into the trunk of his car. Since then she had been transferred three more times. Each and every time those words were repeated. Now they echoed in her mind, preventing her from doing something silly like trying to figure out how far they had driven or if they were going in circles. What it hadn't stopped her from doing was noticing that each time someone said those words they did so with fear and sadness.

The car stopped, she heard the sound of another car. She prepared to be transferred again. This time the front door opened and closed, and the sound of another car door opening and closing. The other car drove away.

She was alone. The car was still running.

_"If you try anything clever, anything brave, anything remotely like an escape or call for help, it will be Annabelle who pays the price."_

She would wait.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the trunk, but she hadn't heard the sound of another car. This person must have been waiting for them. The trunk opened, she felt the cool evening air hit her, it had been several hours then. The person helped her sit up and then she felt the tip of a straw touch her lips, she shook her head to refuse, and the straw was pushed against her lips roughly. Reluctantly she took a sip from the straw, it was water. The person made her taken another few sips before making her lay back down and closing the trunk. They began to drive and she understood that it hadn't just been water. She felt the world melting away, she saw an image of Logan looking at her with fear in his eyes.

_"Logan, no matter what it takes I won't stop looking until I find her, I promise."_

_"I know you won't, I know you'll find her. You have to."_

The darkness took her.

She tried to open her eyes but found darkness, she tried to move her arms and legs but found she was confined. She panicked. She twisted and turned and tried to get away.

"It's ok." Came a quiet voice in the dark.

Veronica stopped moving.

"Whose there?" she asked.

"Don't move, I'll help you." Said the quiet voice. It was closer now.

Veronica didn't say anything, she didn't move. After a moment or two she felt the tightness on her legs become loose, then her arms. She sat up and the blindfold was loosened. She blinked and rubbed her eyes a few times trying to adjust to the sudden light of a room.

She looked around, it was a child's room. A child's room she had seen in a picture. She turned around to look at the quiet voice who had freed her.

There stood her the grand child her father had always wanted, the family Logan had desperately needed.

"Annabelle?" Veronica asked in a whisper.

The sweet girl with golden hair and eyes of ocean smiled and embraced Veronica tightly.

"I knew you'd come to save me!" she cried out.


	21. Chapter 21

Shocked by the suddenness of the embrace all Veronica could do was hold the child. After a moment she relaxed and gave her a real hug.

"Annabelle, are you ok? They haven't hurt you have they?" she asked still holding her.

"My friend is nice to me, he brought me these toys and my favorite books. He comes to play with me every day, but he gets mad when I ask to go home." Annabelle replied sadly.

Veronica pulled away slightly to look at Annabelle.

"When he gets mad has he ever hurt you?" she asked

Annabelle shook her head.

"He just gets sad and won't play with me anymore." Annabelle glanced back at the door, then moved closer to Veronica. "There's another man, he's not nice. He told me I couldn't see daddy anymore, I cried and he hit me."

Veronica hugged Annabelle again.

"I won't let him hit you again, ok?"

"My friend said the same thing, and I haven't seen him again."

Veronica looked at her carefully.

"_Her 'friend' must be the janitor." _She thought to herself. Veronica moved over on the small bed she was on and motioned for Annabelle to sit beside her. She did.

"What's your friends name Annabelle, do you know?"

Annabelle looked down.

"He said I'm not allowed to tell you. He brought you here and put you in the bed. He said that when you woke up I could help you, and he showed me how to untie you, but he said I can't tell you his name or we would be in trouble."

Veronica smiled at the child and lifted her chin to look at her.

"That's ok, we don't want to get in trouble."

Annabelle smiled and Veronica suddenly realized she hadn't even told her who she was.

"I'm a friend of your dads. He asked me to help find you. He misses you so much."

"I miss him too." She said sadly.

Veronica put her hand on Annabelle's cheek and looked her in the eye with a smile.

"I'm going to do everything I can to get you back to him as soon as possible. I promise."

Annabelle smiled. A smile that made Veronica smile, but also made her heart ache.

"My name is-"

"I know who you are!" Annabelle said excitedly.

"You do?" Veronica asked with honest confusion.

"Of course!" Annabelle jumped up from her seat and ran across the room to a shelf.

"_Did Logan tell her about me? Surely she wouldn't remember anything Dad had told her._" She wondered to herself.

When Annabelle came back she was smiling and holding what appeared to be an album in her arms.

"_Did he keep pictures of me? Of us?_" Veronica wondered with a hint of curious hope.

As Annabelle got closer it became clear it was not an album she held but rather a children's book. She stopped in front of Veronica.

"You're Princess Ronnie." She said with a smile and handed Veronica the book.

Veronica looked down at the book in her hands, she found herself dumbfounded as she saw an image of a girl who did look very much like herself only as an animation with some childlike attributes. The drawing was of her doppelganger with her back to a wall as a two headed creature seemed to be looking for her. Her eyes drifted up to the title of the book:

**The Self Rescuing Princess**

**The Tale of the Two Headed Ogre**

And at the bottom of the cover she found the author's name, Lynn Lester. Suddenly Veronica remembered the startup publishing company from Logan's financial records.

"That's my favorite." Annabelle said sitting down next to Veronica

"Your favorite?" Asked Veronica looking at the girl who nodded happily. "Are there more?"

"Lots more!" Laughed Annabelle. "I remember daddy telling me the stories at bedtime, and then I wanted to see the pictures. He told me he would have to find them. On my birthday he gave me the first one. Now I have five."

"So what is this one about?" Veronica asked wanting to keep the happiness in Annabelle's voice as much as she could while honest curiosity also played on her mind.

"That one is about a two headed ogre who kidnaps fairies and then makes them drink a potion to put them to sleep, then he steals their magic and wings."

"That's terrible."

"It was really sad and scary at first, but then Princess Ronnie comes and she helps them. She starts trying to find the ogre and sets traps for him."

"So does she catch the ogre?"

"She finds him, but then he captures her. He makes her drink the potion and she starts getting really sleepy, but then she remembers that her friend Posey the fairy had given her a magic whistle that all the fairies could hear if she needed help. So she blows the whistle and the faeries come to help her." A sadness crossed Annabelle's face and she turned away.

"What's wrong?" asked Veronica turning Annabelle to face her again.

"Daddy gave me a whistle, my own magic whistle to blow in case I needed help." She looked down. "But I didn't blow it."

"Annabelle, you didn't know you were in trouble, did you? You thought you were just walking with your friend. You didn't know you needed help." Veronica said in her best reassuring voice.

"But I got captured." She said quietly. "Princess Ronnie would have known better."

"What are you talking about? You just told me Princess Ronnie got captured by the two headed ogre and had to call the faeries to rescue her." Said Veronica, Annabelle looked up at her but still didn't seem convinced. Veronica pulled her close with a half hug. "We all need help sometimes Annabelle. I bet in these stories about Princess Ronnie, she has friends who help her a lot, doesn't she?"

Annabelle nodded and smiled. Veronica felt comfortable with this girl, she wanted to keep her safe. She wanted to make her smile. She wanted to keep her mind off the situation for a little while longer, until she could find a way to get her out of it.

"So what does it say happens to the faeries who had their wings and magic taken?"

"The book says that they find ways to make new magic and that their wings grow back. But I asked daddy if that was really true. He said that their magic will never be the same and their wings might grow back a little different. Maybe they won't shine as much as they used to, but in time and with the help of their friends they will be able to fly again. He said that Posey the fairy grew back her wings just as beautiful as before and she became a nicer and friendlier fairy with the help of her friends."

Annabelle took the book and looked through the pictures, showing Veronica various points in the story. There was no denying it, this story was definitely a child's version of the Hurst Rapist. Veronica felt conflicted, it was horrible, but it was beautiful. Annabelle had no idea that what she was reading was so truly horrific, but she still learned from it.

"Annabelle?"

She turned and looked at Veronica.

"Why do you think I am Princess Ronnie?"

"Because my mommy told me you are."

"You're mommy did?"

"_Did Hannah write these? I guess she could have gotten the details from Logan and Piz_." Veronica thought to herself.

"I found a picture at daddy's house of you and him, he looked so happy. I showed it to mommy and asked why I didn't know you. She said I knew all about you, that he tells me about you every day, She said 'that's Princess Ronnie' and then she put the picture away."

**A/N: I know it's a short one, but I wanted to get this one out there. I don't have the next part totally worked through yet but I wanted to share this bit with V and Annabelle with you guys. Hope you liked it**. **Also normally I don't do this but let me go ahead and just state the last line was not any kind of hint, or foreshadowing, it was just another dig of guilt to Veronica.**

**Grim**


End file.
